


What Was Missing

by Juju_25



Category: Hazbin Hotel
Genre: Affection, Alastor - Freeform, Angel Dust - Freeform, Angst, Charlie Magne - Freeform, Comfort, Drama, Dreams and Nightmares, Emotional Damage, Emotional Trauma, F/M, Feelings, Forgotten Memories, Hazbin Hotel - Freeform, Heartbreak, Insomnia, Memories, Memory Loss, Niffty - Freeform, Nightmares, OC, OC Story, Secrets, Slow Burn, Vaggie - Freeform, Valentino - Freeform, Violence, Vox - Freeform, fat nuggets - Freeform, husk - Freeform, ocxcanon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-14
Updated: 2020-11-18
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:53:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 26,986
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26461495
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Juju_25/pseuds/Juju_25
Summary: Zoey always felt something was missing,  as if there were parts of her that had gone after she arrived in Hell,  she didn’t know why..That is when fate supposedly made her step foot into the Hazbin Hotel,  and when she does her afterlife started to change drastically,  for better or for worse,  her fate was sealed within the hotel’s walls.
Relationships: OC/Canon - Relationship
Kudos: 10





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> I’m excited to share Zoey’s story with you all! While this story only has a short prologue so far I’ll hopefully be posting the rest soon! I hope you enjoy :3

A sigh escaped the lips of the lone demon laying on her bed, she’s been staying in here for longer than she thought she would, but she had no energy to go outside. The room was dimly illuminated only by the evening light coming from her window, her room wasn’t that big, but it was just enough. A comfy bed was in the center, a dresser and desk in the corner, a door leading to a bathroom with a walk in closet, and a bookshelf or two. 

Zoey was a Roe deer demon, with brown fluffy ears and hair that usually reached until her back, bangs that hovered just above her eyes and locks of hair that stretched down her face. Two gray pointed horns rested on top of her head, she wore a dark red violet ribbon and her favorite outfit: A very faded pink and red violet top with a collar, a black ribbon in the center along with a print of a bunny with a bowtie beneath it, to finish it off she wore a dark violet skirt with a pair of black shoes. 

She rolled to her side and sat up, rubbing the tiredness from her mismatched colored eyes, the pupil in one eye was white, while the other matched the violet in her clothing, but both of her scleras were pink. One of her other noticeable features was a black splotch that surrounded her left eye, and even if it was sometimes hidden, she had a small fluffy brown deer tail. 

Zoey looked around, the dim light reflecting on her form, she lived alone in an apartment in one of the busy sides of the Pentagram, though she didn’t get all this herself. At least not entirely, she had to work for quite a while until she met a friend who gave her some money to help her, she was mostly busy nowadays and the Roe deer hasn’t seen her for quite some time. She had to thank her again for getting her this room, otherwise she’d be in the streets. 

Her ears perked up when a familiar news channel getting turned on from a TV could be heard from another room, she couldn’t quite understand what was being said but she had a hunch on what the topic was. 

Ever since after this year’s extermination, the princess opened up a hotel to redeem sinners so that they can go to heaven, and after an interview with her went wrong most of Hell started to mock the idea, seeing it as a joke. 

Zoey had witnessed the interview herself on TV, and she wasn’t sure how to feel about it, the idea was definitely something shocking, but most see it as surprising in a not so good way. To be honest with herself, she was fairly intrigued, she’s always figured that demons were iredeemable, something about the Hotel made her think about it for a few nights. 

Slowly, she got up, stretching her stiff limbs. She fixed herself up a little, before locking her apartment door and keeping the key safe as she left, it was already evening, the streets were as busy as always, chaos ensuing almost everywhere. Robberies, murders, to name a few. 

As she walked she tried not to pay attention the the murderous looks some demons gave her, her ears twitched slightly but she kept her eyes forward. 

_A*sholes_ She thought to herself.

She managed to get into the less crowded parts of the city thankfully, she stopped by her favorite cafe, one of the only places she liked here, and bought a frappe for herself. Zoey really loved sweets, not only because of how they tasted but they always somehow made her feel better, and since she’s mostly on her own it’s a pretty useful thing. 

Her ears droop slightly, the sweet beverage in her hand didn’t seem to cheer her up as much as she hoped, she took a few more sips. When Zoey survived her first few weeks in Hell, something always seemed to be wrong, she wasn’t sure why, or what caused it. But it seemed to always cross her mind when she’s alone, which was.. unfortunately most of the time. 

She let out another sigh, “This has been going on for too long.” Zoey said to herself quietly, finishing her frappe and discarding it into a trashcan, continuing on her way. She glanced up, staring at the big Pentagram that was like the sun of Hell, the sky was only ever different hues of red. Zoey also ocassionally gets very strange dreams, not exactly nightmares but they weren’t really good either, they were all very vague.

Dreams with faint, blurry images of figures she can’t recognize, once seeing a scene of someone running away from something in a forest, voices that were unfamiliar that spoke to her... she had no idea what these all meant. 

At least, not until soon in the future.

Zoey stopped in her tracks, realizing she had arrived somewhere she didn’t remember she was going to, did her own two feet guide her here while she was lost in thought? She blinked, and looked up the extremely tall building, reading the sign at the very top.

“Hazbin Hotel...” Zoey murmured, feeling a little confused, “I thought it was _Happy_ Hotel, but.. I guess it has a better rinh to it.” She looked away thoughtfully, a door stood in her way, and she wasn’t exactly sure what she should do. 

Hesitantly raising her hand, she knocked on the door a few times, her ears twitched to try and pinpoint any sign of anyone inside. Silence ensued for a while.

Until she heard footsteps coming to the door, she inhaled deeply to calm herself, expecting to see the princess or her other companion. 

The door swung open.

“Why, _hello there, darling_!” 

Just before her _wasn’t_ the princess at all, but a tall, menacing demon in red that grinned down at her with glowing eyes. 

Zoey froze.

_What is she getting into?!_


	2. Welcome To The Hazbin Hotel!

Zoey visibly jumped in shock, her alert ears pointed upwards, her eyes wide. She stood frozen, staring up at the demon who just greeted her, he tilted his head down at her with a widening smile.

“How may I help you?” The demon in red asked sweetly, though his expression looked evil instead of welcoming. Zoey gulped, she opened her mouth to try and speak, words coming out in stutters.

“I-I, j-just w-want to..” She started, feeling unfamiliar fear creep into her heart, the air felt tight around the presence of him. “W-W-Where’s the princess?” Zoey managed to finish.

“Alastor! Is something wrong?” The Roe deer heard a more familiar voice and she sighed in relief, the tall demon, Alastor turned around and called out from his over his shoulder.

“Nothing, my dear! Apparently someone here has to speak with you.” Alastor looked back at Zoey, and grinned again, she didn’t like how he always seemed to look at her with evil intent in those glowing red eyes. 

Zoey heard more footsteps and Alastor made way for Charlie, she looked pretty excited and when her eyes laid on the Roe deer demon she squealed, excitedly pulling her inside. Zoey squeaked and found herself being dragged in, the door closed by Alastor. 

“ _Hello_! It’s so nice to meet you!” Charlie said happily, lending out a hand, Zoey offered an awkward smile and shook her hand. “I’m Charlie! You probably already know me though, what’s your name?” 

Zoey straightened herself, finally calming her nerves a bit, “Good evening princess,” she started with a smile, “I’m Zoey, I’ve seen your interview about the hotel and I was quite interested to check it out.” This seemed to make the princess even more happy, she refrained from jumping in joy the best she could and just smiled widely. 

“Thank you so much for stopping by Zoey! Come with me! I’ll introduce you to everyone else, and show you around after!” Charlie held her hand and dragged her again, Zoey’s eyes nervously glanced behind them where Alastor stood, with the same grin plastered on his face, this time his eyes narrowed slightly when their eyes met. She looked away. 

_Ignore him, Zoey_ She told herself over and over, she was brought back from her thoughts when the princess called for everyone else’s attention. They were in the main lobby, several paintings and statues decorated the room, the walls themselves were uniquely designed, a large couch was in one corner and Zoey laid eyes on the bar in far center. A door to an elevator, the back and a staircase were the last things she paid attention to.

“Hey everyone! May I have your attention please!” Charlie exclaimed, Zoey finally noticed the few other demons in the room, she took a deep breath. “We have a new guest! I want us all to introduce ourselves to Zoey!”

The Roe deer smiled sheepishly and waved at the others, she took in their appearances carefully, one by one they started to introduce themselves. The smallest in the group was a cyclops demon with orange hair that curled at the ends, she wore a scarf, a white top with red spots on it and a poodle skirt. She happily rushed over to Zoey and lent out a hand.

“Hello there!” She said excitedly, her voice was adorable. “I’m Niffty! It’s so nice to see a new face around here!” 

Zoey grinned, shaking her hand, “Hello Niffty! Pleasure to meet you!” 

Niffty giggled and zipped over to her spot on one of the couches in the lobby, the second to come over to Zoey was a female moth demon, who had long white hair that reached near the floor, a pink ribbon at the back of her head, a pink ‘X’ on her long bangs that covered half her face, where her left eye was supposed to be. She wore different colored socks and a white and gray outfit, another X on the side of her chest. 

Unlike Niffty, she wore an unsure frown, looking at Zoey carefully before lending out a hand. “Vaggie, pleasure to meet you.” She said it all with a slightly suspicious tone, Zoey shook her hand with a small awkward smile.

“Hello, I’m Zoey. Nice to meet you.” Vaggie nodded and crossed her arms, walking to stand beside Charlie, who gestured for the others to come meet Zoey. 

Her ears drew back slightly as her eyes widened a bit, the next was taller than everyone else, a white spider demon with long fluffy hair decorated with pink spots, both his eyes were different: one was yellow and one was a dark brown, almost black, both his pupils were pink, but the left one was missing the black part of the other eye. He was probably seven or more feet tall, he wore thigh high socks and a white and pink striped outfit with black shorts underneath, a black choker and bowtie around his neck and to finish it all off he wore pink gloves.

Zoey gulped slightly, instead of wary or happy, he seemed to be slightly uninterested yet looked at her with a strange look. “‘Ey there, name’s Angel Dust. Most famous pornstar in Hell, can guarantee a good time if ya paid me~” His voice suddenly went slightly suggestive, he grinned at her. 

Zoey’s face grimaced a little, but she tried to hide it with a slightly forced grin, she waved at him. “Zoey.. Nice to meet you.. Angel Dust.” 

Angel winked at her and sat down, crossing his legs over the other, there were only two demons left. Aside from Alastor there was a winged cat demon sitting by the bar, looking bored and definitely disinterested, his wings were red and uniquely patterned with card symbols, stripes, spots and hearts, his fur was gray, he had a tail that had a red, white and black patterned fluffy end, he wore a black top hat and a red bowtie, his eyes were brown and his pupils were orange. He was holding a bottle of booze in his right hand, taking a bored gulp.

“ _Husk_!” Vaggie hissed, her face scowling with annoyance. 

“Fine.” The cat demon grunted with the same annoyance, he looked at Zoey, “Husk. Leave me alone. I ain’t shakin’ hands with ya.”

“O-kay....” Zoey trailed awkwardly. It was time for the last demon, he appeared right in front of her within a second, Alastor smiled widely and shook her hand quickly, she yelped at the sudden action.

“Alastor! _Pleasure_ to be meeting you sweetheart! Welcome to the Hazbin Hotel!” Alastor was almost entirely red, his hair was a light hue if red, two fluffy ears rested on top, two small horns in between, his eyes were different colors of red too, they seemed to glow faintly, he wore a monocle on his right eye. A bowtie rested below his chin, a red pinstripe suit adorned his body, ripped at the bottom, he wore burgundy slacks and black shoes that tapped every time he took a step. 

Zoey felt the nervousness return and she did her darndest to try and smile up at him, “Hello Alastor..! Z-Zoey but, y-you already know that.” She swallowed, Alastor laughed and patted her head suddenly, Zoey flinched. 

“Hahaha! Indeed I do, Zoey dear! Thank you for stopping by at this wonderful establishment!” He leaned in close, Zoey seemed to be frozen in a trance, Alastor lowered his voice, “ _I hope you’ll enjoy your stay_.” He said lowly, with a slightly menacing voice, not sounding completely welcoming at all. 

“Y-Y-Yeah... m-me too..” Zoey backed away a little, Alastor looked satisfied and fixed his bowtie with a smile, folding his hands behind him. Vaggie seemed to bring Charlie and herself closer to Zoey once they finished, a wary expression on her face, though Charlie seemed oblivious to it all and took it as everything going really well.

“Excellent! Now that we all introduced ourselves, I believe Zoey needs a tour around the hotel! Me and Vaggie will take her around while you guys stay here, we’ll be back after a few minutes!” Charlie placed a hand on Zoey’s shoulder, the Roe deer tried not to flinch, she shook her head and followed the two, refraining from looking back to the others.

She just knew a pair of eyes were still staring right at her. 

_Later..._

“And these are the rooms! There are some that are better than others but nonetheless they’re all kept in perfect condition!” Charlie explained happily, Vaggie was at her side while Zoey trailed close behind, she hugged herself while trying to pay attention. Vaggie seemed slighly on edge too, sometimes glancing at her from the corner of her eye. 

“T-That’s great, princess.” Zoey smiled, hiding her nervousness the best she could, “The rooms seem really nice.”

“Thank you, Zoey! We’ll show you your own room soon after the tour!” Charlie smiled, as she continued the tour, Zoey began to wonder off a little, something about Alastor seemed to put her on edge, was it his appearance? Those eyes that stared through her very being? Or maybe that wide ear-to-ear smile he always seemed to wear on his face. She rubbed her temples, getting rid of these thoughts, hoping they’d leave her alone. 

Zoey didn’t notice Vaggie suddenly appear beside her, she nearly jumped, the moth demon seemed to notice and frowned. “You alright?” She asked. 

“I-I don’t know.” Zoey admitted quietly, looking behind her anxiously, “I j-just feel really nervous all of a sudden.” 

Vaggie frowned even more, looking thoughtful. “It’s Alastor, isn’t it?”

The Roe deer looked at her, surprised. “H-How did you..?” She murmured. Vaggie shook her head slowly.

She took a deep breath, lowering her voice. “I’m aware of what he’s capable of, he’s the Radio Demon, he toppled other Overlords who have been dominant for centuries, getting more and more powerful. As he did he broadcasted all the carnage and suffering he caused, building his reputation and spreading fear all over, I don’t trust him at all.” She looked at Zoey, “I understand why you seem afraid right now, I saw how he looked at you, you have to watch out.”

“B-But...” Zoey looked at the princess, “Charlie seems to trust him.” She whispered, her ear twitching. 

Vaggie sighed, looking slightly exhausted, “She does, he offered to help with the hotel when no one else did, and since he’s a powerful demon she thought that he could help in many ways, and she took the offer. That shitlord nearly made a deal with her, if it weren’t for me warning Charlie about all this she probably would have, she’s just..” 

Vaggie trailed off, Zoey frowned a little, the moth demon shook her head. “Look, all I’m saying is that you do _not_ trust Alastor for one second, he might look like he’s nice but deep down, he’s downright evil and will turn on you the chance he gets.”

A chill in her spine made Zoey shiver, the words were ominous and made her shake a little, she glanced at Vaggie, who looked at her with a somewhat concerned look. The Roe deer nodded shakily, “T-Thank you.” She said quietly. 

Vaggie gave a curt nod. Then they continued on with the tour.

The three girls returned to the lobby, where the others still remained, Charlie called their attention again and she wrapped an arm around Zoey. 

“Alright everyone! The tour is done and Zoey has decided to help us!” Pure joy and excitement shone in her eyes, and she looked at her with a smile. “Thank you so much for stopping by to help! This means a lot.”

“No worries, princess, I’m happy to help.” Zoey grinned. 

“She’ll be leaving to get some of her things from her apartment but she’ll be back after! Starting tomorrow we’ll be spending the days with our new guest!” Charlie squealed.

“ _Wonderful_! I must say, I never expected another demon to find interest in this place.” Alastor drawled, looking straight at Zoey again, her ears twitched and she looked away, Vaggie scowled at the red deer demon. 

“Me neitha.” Angel commented, currently sucking on a popsicle, laying down on a couch, occupying all of the space. “Afta the interview I thought this hotel was goin’ ta shit.”

“Shut up Angel!” Vaggie hissed, the spider demon shrugged carelessly.

“What? Don’t tell me ya didn’t think tha same thing! First that song of hers caused everyone ta laugh then—“

“And then _you decided_ to make it even _worse_ by breaking your two week streak by joining a fucking turf war!” Vaggie yelled angrily and pointed at him, trying to refrain herself from going over to hit the spider herself. Angel sat up and glared at her.

“Well ya know what?! Anotha _news flash_ for ya! I can’t fuckin’ stand layin’ around doin’ nothin but stay clean! I don’t even have any privileges ta go out anymore!” The spider snapped, more tension rising between the two.

Zoey watched everything with growing shock, she didn’t expect for these two to start an argument, Charlie went between them and tried to break them away from a fight that might get physical.

“Stop it you two! Can you guys just drop this?” Charlie asked sternly, “Zoey hasn’t been here for more than a few hours and you two are already getting into another fight!”

“She started it!” Angel protested, glaring again at the moth demon, “I was just statin’ a fact! Can’t seem ta handle the fuckin’ truth!” 

“You’re lucky I’m not holding my spear right now!” Vaggie growled threatheningly. The two seemed to continue their banter, getting more intense, while this was going on Alastor was sipping some tea, looking amused. As if this was entertainment for him. 

Zoey looked away when she suddenly heard Angel storm off angrily, she flinched when a door was suddenly slammed forcefully, Charlie was trying to console a fuming Vaggie who was about to go after the spider. Her ears drooped slightly, the atmosphere seeming to get tighter. Zoey suddenly felt a gentle tug on her skirt, she looked down and saw Niffty looking up at her with a concerned eye.

“You should go get your things, Zoey.” She murmured, “After fights like this it’ll be a bit tense for a while, it’ll hopefully get better once you come back.” Niffty said carefully, Zoey looked back at Charlie and Vaggie, who seemed to be calming down slowly, she lastly glanced at where Angel had disappeared. 

Hesitantly, she nodded, “Thank you Niffty, Charlie seems occupied at the moment so if she asks where I went do you mind telling her?” The small cyclops nodded.

“Of course. You take care out there, I’ll be cleaning your room while you’re gone, which is it?” 

After saying her room number Niffty waved and dashed off, leaving the tense atmosphere of the lobby, Zoey turned to the door and with one final glance at the others, she left, the door clicking behind her. 

Zoey wasn’t aware that she wasn’t alone.


	3. Stop Ruining Everything!

Zoey walked through the streets with her ears flattened slightly, her arms wrapped around herself as she tried to process what all just happened at the hotel. Vaggie warned her about Alastor, who she’s sure had his eyes on her the whole time, and not in a good way whatsoever, then Vaggie and Angel got into a fight almost resulting in them physically hurting each other. Niffty provided little comfort, she admits, even if she says things might ease up later Zoey slightly doubts it.

Was it all because of her? She tried to shake it off but it seemed to cling onto her tightly, making her feel even more guilty about everything. Though, despite all that Charlie herself didn’t seem to be angry about it, just quite upset but it wasn’t necessarily aimed at Zoey. 

Zoey let out a grunt when she was suddenly bumped by a demon, she glared at them as they walked away, laughing. She tried calming herself down, refraining from going after the wretched demon.

She rubbed her temples with a sigh, “Just.. _focus_ on getting back to your apartment to grab some things.” Zoey murmured to herself, picking up her pace once she spotted a few shady looking alleyways, and pairs of murderous eyes looking at her. She was always seen as prey down here, she hated how everyone takes one look at her and assume she’s weak. 

Zoey isn’t entirely helpless however, she discovered soon after arriving in Hell that she can control pink flames with her hands, she’s always thankful for having that ability because it saved her several times from some vicious demons. She continued on her way until she reached the apartment building, carefully she entered into the alleyway leading to the entrance. The Roe deer walked up to her room door and reached into her pocket to get her keys.

Which were strangely missing.

Zoey tensed, and she rummaged through through her pockets again, frantically patting herself down. Her eyes widened at the sudden realization that her keys were missing. _They must’ve fallen when I bumped into that demon! Or it was stolen!_ Zoey panicked, trying to get her door open by ramming into it a few times.

“No, no, no, no!” She grunted in frustration, trying to get it to open. 

Zoey yelped in surprise when the door suddenly clicked open and she found herself crashing onto the floor of her room, she groaned after having the wind being knocked out of her. “Ow...” She muttered, glancing suspiciously behind her, there was no way she left it open, nor could there be a way that she managed to open it on her own without the keys. 

She slowly got up, dusting herself and walking over to the doorknob, she turned it, it was indeed unlocked. Something suddenly moved past her vision, she blinked a few times. “What the..?” Zoey whispered, she looked around, no one was here except her. Grunting in annoyance, she just went over to get a big enough bag for her things. 

Luckily her room was exactly the way she left it, she feared maybe someone was inside that opened the door for her. Zoey grabbed most of her clothes from her closet, stuffing them inside, she went to her desk and gathered her phone, a notebook, a few pens and then her eyes settled on the one picture frame she kept. 

Zoey’s ears flatten a little as she tentatively grasped the frame’s stand, bringing it close enough to her so she could study the picture. Her expression softened, and she caressed the glass frame as she looked at it. 

It was a picture of her and her dearest friend, Zoey took this selfie, she was wearing the same outfit, but her hair was done into two pigtails. She had an arm wrapped around her dear friend, smiling brightly, she had platinum blonde hair that faded into white, two brown horns that rested on top of her head between two fluffy ears, bangs that almost covered the right side of her face, and yellow and purple eyes, with lilac colored skin. She wore a deep purple swallowtail jacket with a raised collar with a light magenta lace shirt beneath it, then lastly a plum choker with a gold pendant that decorated it. She meant a lot to Zoey, more than she could say.. 

Both of them were happy in the photo. Zoey smiled softly, and fondly, “Hey Vi.. I hope you’re doing alright.” Zoey hasn’t seen her for quite some time..

She caressed the picture frame a bit longer and put it away in her bag with care. As she continued to get more of her things that she may need Zoey hasn’t noticed the pair of eyes that watched her the entire time, with a mischievous glint. Gone unnoticed because the figure was hidden in Zoey’s shadow the whole time. 

The Roe deer sighed in relief, zipping the bag close. “Alright, I got everything I need, now I need to—“

Suddenly a towering figure manifested in front of her and she practically screamed in shock, nearly dropping her things. Laughter echoed through her room as the black figure started fading into red, and into a more _familiar demon_. Zoey stared up fearfully at Alastor, he grinned widely down at her.

“Zoey dear!” He exclaimed, “I must say that was _quite_ the show you put on! Very entertaining!” Alastor laughed again, Zoey gasped for breath, her heart pounded against her chest, how long has he been here?! 

“A-Alastor?!” Zoey gaped, shaking her head. “H-How did you get here?!” 

The deer demon fixed his bowtie with a proud grin, “Why, I followed you of course! I just couldn’t leave you, little doe, alone during this time of night. Who knows what could’ve.. happened.” Alastor titled his head as he said this, looking pleased with himself.

Zoey finally managed to get her thoughts together, she grunted in annoyance, her ears pointing backwards. “Why did you scare me like that?!” 

“I was bored, darling. This room of yours is quite... how do I describe it? Ah yes, it was fairly dull in here.” Alastor looked around, “It just needed some lightening up, haha!” 

_Who the hell does he think he is?_ Zoey thought angrily, she suddenly remembered what Vaggie told her, and she fell silent, during her shock and annoyance she didn’t realize how scared she really was. She was alone, with _Alastor_ , the feared Radio Demon. She started to panic, her breaths coming out in short, frantic gasps. The twisted red deer demon just smiled even more, taking pleasure in her fear and panic. 

“Oh, are you _afraid_ of me, Zoey dear?” Alastor asked in a low voice, taking a step forward, Zoey inched away and grabbed her bag, attempting to stand up. He laughed, “Such delicious fear... hmm...”

He leaned forward, his eyes glowing in the darkness, making him seem more terrifying than he already is. Zoey let out a whimper, she was trapped.

“You know, dear, I’m quite famished, I haven’t gone out for a hunt just yet.” Alastor whispered, tapping his chin in thought, his eyes glowed brighter, as he stared hungrily at the Roe deer, “I must say you look _absolutely delicious_...” 

Zoey whimpered in fear, shaking her head quickly, she was shaking now, her eyes wide and pleading to be spared, Alastor reached out to her and she shuf her eyes tightly. 

“ _P-Please don’t eat me_!” Zoey cried, bracing for the worst.

Which never came.

Alastor bursted into laughter, he laughed so hard he nearly stumbled backwards, Zoey flinched and her eyes shot open, dumbfounded, confused, and shocked. The Radio Demon ceased his laughter and wiped a tear from his face, “Ohohoho, darling your reaction was _very entertaining!_ Wonderful!” He laughed again. 

Zoey was broken from her trance, “ _Excuse me_?” She snapped, utterly irritated, the rage made her shake, “Did you just do all that for _entertainment_? You—! You—!” Zoey couldn’t express her anger in words and just glared at him, all the while Alastor just stared in amusement. 

“Yes indeedy! It was all worth it. Now, now, we best be off, Charlie will be expecting you to come back.”

The Roe deer rolled her eyes, “I should’ve been there by now, thank you so much for stopping by.” She grunted, heading for the door, when she suddenly bumped into Alastor’s chest as he teleported in front of her, blocking her way. Zoey took a deep breath, her ears twitching in annoyance, “ _Alastor_..”

“Walking all the way will take too much time, Zoey dear! But fortunate for you,” Alastor suddenly summoned a staff out of nowhere, it resembled a microphone, “ _I_ can teleport us there in a flash! It’ll save much of our time.” He grinned sweetly at her, Zoey stared at him with unamusement.

“Yeah, no. I’m perfectly fine with walking—ah!” She was suddenly grabbed by the arm, Alastor pressed her close and laughed again. She really hated all this, she growled under her breath. 

“Ohoho! If you thought you had a choice in the matter you are terribly mistaken, darling!” Alastor patted her head, she tried to move away but he kept a tight grip, all Zoey could do was begrudgingly follow. “Off we go then! We’re wasting time here.” 

Alastor’s staff came to life with a red glow as he tapped it on the floor, it spread around them and Zoey nearly yelped when they were suddenly sucked in and she felt an intense wave of nausea come over her, she had to hold onto the staff to prevent herself from falling. After a few seconds they appeared in one of the hotel’s hallways, Zoey groaned as she clutched her forehead, everything was still spinning. 

“There we are! Now wasn’t that easier than walking all the way here, darling?” The smug deer asked, looking at her mockingly. Zoey grumbled under her breath and tried to stand straight, she wobbled for a bit until she managed to get her balance back. She walked away from Alastor and headed for her room, without another word. 

He tilted his head at Zoey as he stared at her, Alastor chuckled to himself, turning the opposite direction. 

“The poor thing won’t last too long.”

_Later..._

After Zoey fixed all her things and thanked Niffty for cleaning her room as promised, she went downstairs to where the others were, she was slightly nervous. What if another fight took place? Was everyone okay? As the lobby came to view Zoey saw that Charlie, Vaggie, Husk and Niffty were all there, Angel was still missing, in his room still possibly, and she didn’t care where Alastor was. 

Zoey carefully walked over to them, Niffty waved, while Charlie smiled softly, Vaggie still seemed to be angry but more in control of herself, and Husk was still drinking booze with the same disinterested look. Charlie stood up and gently held Zoey’s hands.

“Hey, have you already settled in? Niffty told me you left earlier to get your things, I’m glad you came back okay.”

_Almost entirely okay anyway_ Zoey thought to herself, she smiled gently at the princess, not wanting her to worry. 

“Thank you, Charlie. I’ve already settled in, Niffty did an excellent job cleaning.” The Roe deer grinned at the cyclops, who smiled sweetly in return. 

“That’s great! I hope you’ll enjoy your stay here, despite what could happen..” Charlie trailed off, Zoey smiled reassuringly. 

“No worries.” 

After a while, the atmosphere still seemed to be quite tense, Niffty was restless in her seat, looking around at everyone nervously, Charlie and Vaggie were having a hushed discussion, the princess looked worried while Vaggie still seemed a bit mad. Zoey didn’t like all this, she felt guilty and wanted to help lighten their spirits a bit. She glanced at the kitchen, remembering what was in there when Charlie and Vaggie toured her around, her eyes lit up when she realizes what she could do.

Zoey grinned to herself, she stood up and headed toward the kitchen, no one really seemed to notice, she opened the doors and stared around. Several cabinets filled with different ingredients and kitchenware were above the counters that were sparkling clean, a large fridge was in the corner, the floor was also really clean, Niffty really outdid herself. Beside the sink and three stoves of the kitchen, Zoey set her eyes on the oven, smiling to herself.

_Baking time!_ Zoey thought excitedly.

She went over to a cabinet and grabbed an apron, she tied it around herself and rolled up her sleeves, she fixed her hair into a loose bun and she rummaged for baking supplies. Placing all of them on the counter, a large mixing bowl, a large tray, different other supplies like a whisk, measuring cups and spoons, then the ingredients for what she was about to bake. Zoey also spotted a couple books for cooking and baking, though she didn’t need a guide, she always loved to bake and she knew several recipes by heart. 

Stretching, she grinned confidently, “Now, let’s get to work!” 

Zoey first started mixing the ingredients in the large bowl, getting a bit of a mess on her apron and the counter, she mixed it all manually with the whisk, not really wanting to use the mechanical mixer. She carefully and skillfully mixed all of the contents, until she knew it was perfect, Zoey took the whisk away and placed it somewhere. She glanced at the time, she would probably take nearly an hour baking but she didn’t really mind, while she worked the oven was preheating to a specific time and temperature. 

Zoey hummed to herself as she started to pour the mixed batter into the rectangular tray, once everything was poured inside she put the bowl away, she carefully scraped the top of the mix, making sure it was almost perfectly smooth. Baking always made her happy, when she wasn’t doing it alone she sometimes baked with Violet, those were really great times.

After she smoothed out the chocolate mixture, she checked the oven, it was nearly done preheating, she was excited to share her baking with the others. Zoey hoped this would help cheer them up. 

Charlie sighed softly, looking around with a sad expression, Niffty tried to busy herself with a bit of cleaning despite the room being almost spotless, Husk had drunk a couple bottles already, and Vaggie was still scowling slightly. 

It was then, a delicious smell made Charlie’s eyes widen slightly, she sniffed the air a few times and then turned to Vaggie, “Hey, can you guys smell that?”

Niffty stopped, sniffling, her eye widened and she grinned, “Ooooh! I do! It smells absolutely delightful!” She excitedly zipped around, Vaggie seemed to notice as well and she looked curious. Charlie glanced at the slightly ajar kitchen door, and realized Zoey was missing from the lobby. 

“Has anyone seen Zoey?” Niffty questioned. Charlie stood up. 

“She must’ve went somewhere, or maybe...” She took in the delightful scent of something sweet, “Come on!” She exclaimed and headed to the kitchen, Vaggie and Niffty followed, the princess carefully pushed the door open just enough to see that Zoey was indeed inside. There was quite a mess of flour, drops of a chocolate looking mixture in a few places and used baking supplies, Zoey was humming happily to herself as she took some mittens and was carefully pulling out a tray. 

The smell was coming from there. The Roe deer wiped her forehead with a satisfied sigh, she grabbed a knife and started to carefully cut the contents into square pieces, Charlie’s eyes lit up and she grinned widely at this. They were all impressed, Zoey put the knife aside and proudly looked at her work. 

“Freshly baked brownies, all done! Now to call every-“ Zoey stopped, her eyes widened upon seeing the three girls by the door, she shifted awkwardly and smiled sheepishly. “Hey.. guys, uh.. how long have you been there?”

“Zoey, oh my!” Charlie exclaimed, running over to her, Niffty followed with the same enthusiasm and Vaggie was behind them. Zoey squeaked when she was suddenly hugged, they all looked at the nicely cut, delicious looking brownies on the counter. “You baked this all by yourself?” 

Zoey smiled awkwardly, running a hand through her hair. “Pretty much.. I thought that this’ll help lighten the atmosphere a bit.”

“These look and smell amazing! I wanna try one!” Niffty squealed, trying to reach up for one, Zoey grinned sweetly and gave each of them a brownie to try. She looked at all of them a bit nervously, she knew she did everything right but she just wasn’t surw if they’ll like it. 

The girls each took a bite, their eyes widened.

Zoey gulped a little, her ears twitched nervously. “I-Is it too sweet or-?” 

She was intereupted by sounds of appreciation, Charlie gulped down the rest with a cheery expression, Niffty seemed to be more hyper as she jumped up and down excitedly, Vaggie looked impressed and was even smiling a little. 

“Zoey, these are _amazing_! How can you bake so good?!” Charlie exclaimed, going to get another one. Zoey blushed, smiling shyly at the compliment.

“Years of practice, I’ve always loved baking.” Zoey admitted with a grin, eating a brownie herself.

“I smell somethin’ good in here!” 

Suddenly, the girls turned and saw Angel poking his head from the door, he entered and curiously smelled the air, “Could be smelled all tha way from-“ The spider stopped in his tracks, staring at the tray of brownies, he looked at everyone, his eyes lastly landed on Zoey. She looked at him curiously, then gestured to the brownies. Angel took one and looked at it for a bit, then he took a bite, chewing carefully until his own eyes widened, his mouth gaped and the brownie nearly fell out of his mouth. 

Angel swallowed, and ate the rest of the brownie, licking his lips with a satisfied look after. Everything was quiet for a moment. 

“ANGEL! HEY!” Vaggie yelled angrily.

That is until Angel snatched the entire tray and started to run off with it.

Vaggie started running after him, Niffty whined that he wasn’t sharing and followed, Zoey and Charlie bursted into fits of laughter. They went outside and found they Angel was raising the tray high above his head, all the while taking a brownie or two and eating them. Zoey felt herself smile, her idea seemed to work out like she wanted.

Niffty and Vaggie yelled at him to give the tray back for everyone to share but the spider demon shook his head, looking smugly having eaten two brownies. 

“Angel.” Zoey said, attempting not to laugh at how silly this was, “There’s enough for everyone.” 

Angel shook his head in denial, looking offended, “Ain’t enough fer me! These taste fucking amazing!”

Vaggie growled, “She made enough for all of us you idiot!” 

“Now what is all this fuss about?” 

Alastor appeared into the room, observing the scene curiously, Angel was holding a tray above his head, Vaggie and Niffty were demanding him to put it down, and there was a sweet smell wafting into his nostrils. Alastor scrunched his face slightly, the smell wasn’t exactly something he liked.

“Al!” Charlie said happily, “Zoey baked some brownies for us! You should try one! They taste absolutely amazing!” 

Alastor’s smile tightened and he narrowed his eyes a little, “No thank you, I _despise sweets_.” He said in a low tone, looking at Zoey, who was still wearing her apron. She looked away, her ears flattening a little.

“Will you stop being a killjoy and ruining everything?!” Vaggie hissed in annoyance, she managed to tackle Angel and she was able to get the tray without it falling to the floor. The spider huffed, grumbling underneath his breath, Niffty excitedly grabbed another brownie to eat, she went over to Husk and encouraged him to try. Meanwhile, Alastor laughed.

“Me? A killjoy? Ha!” He bent down to Vaggie’s face and grinned menacingly, “Look who’s talking, dear, that little fit you and Angel had earlier made poor Charlie upset when she was _so_ happy to finally get another demon to help, doesn’t that make _you_ a killjoy?” 

“Alastor, knock it off.” Charlie said sternly, “Just drop it, okay? Zoey did this to make everything a bit better, you should at least appreciate her efforts.” 

Charlie looked around, her heart dropping when she realized the Roe deer was missing, a door closing in the far end of the hallway.


	4. A Strange Night

Charlie’s heart dropped upon hearing the closing of a door, and Zoey’s sudden disappearance, she looked really worried and wanted to go after her. Niffty looked worried as well, meanwhile, Vaggie was about done with Alastor for today. He just stood there with his usual smile, a little more smug however. 

“ _You_!” She pointed straight at him, “You always ruin everything! Couldn’t you just keep your mouth shut for once?! You—!” 

“I advise you to watch your words, dear.” Alastor said dangerously, his eyes narrowing at her, Vaggie was about to speak again when Charlie stopped her, shaking her head. Alastor smirked when Vaggie begrudgingly kept quiet, all the while glaring at him. “Well my dears, I believe I’m finished here, I’ll be off.” 

“Alastor.” Charlie put in firmly, the deer looked at her, tilting his head. “Shouldn’t you go apologize to Zoey? You might hate sweets but you shouldn’t have hurt her feelings like that.” 

Alastor blinked a few times, then suddenly laughed, “My, yes! I was _just_ about to do that darling! If you’ll excuse me, I shall find our dear Zoey and apologize.” Alastor was still being glared at as he turned and walked away, humming to himself, Charlie sighed. She glanced at everyone else, Niffty already set to work cleaning the kitchen up, Husk was drinking as usual and Angel had disappeared. 

“Charlie.” Vaggie’s voice brought her attention back, she seemed suspicious and concerned, “We should be more careful of Alastor, since he already treated Zoey badly on her first night. If she’s gonna stay I advise we keep a close eye on him.” 

“I.. I guess we should, I don’t want Zoey to suddenly leave.. we haven’t gotten any new demons here for quite a while..” The princess trailed off, worried, Vaggie comforted her, all the while wondering what Alastor was really up to. 

Angel was still eating a brownie or two as he walked down the halls, he didn’t want to be a part of the drama from earlier and left when he could. Taking some of the baked goodness with him, he couldn’t really lie: Zoey definitely knew how to bake, really well. He was kind of confused as to why she ran off after Alastor’s statement of his distaste for sweets, “Poor girl.” Angel said to himself, finishing off a brownie by popping it into his mouth. 

He stretched his limbs, eager to lay down for the night, “If she can’t handle that she probably won’t be able to last because of all the shitty demons here.” 

Suddenly, Angel heard faint noises from sonewhere in the hall, he stopped and looked around curiously. The spider walked to certain doors, his curiosity peaked, eventually he found where the sounds where coming from. He wasn’t exactly one to eavesdrop but he liked being sneaky, Angel pressed himself against the door and listened. 

“..I shouldn’t be this affected by it.. but..” A quiet voice mumbled, Angel realized it was Zoey, he kept quiet, “Here I am..” She sighed, Angel heard shuffling from the other side, “Oh bother, it isn’t really anything new. Get over it, Zoey.” The Roe deer muttered, her footsteps faded and another door closed, she seemed to have left to the bathroom. 

Angel was quiet for a while, he was only here to eavesdrop then leave but, the spider stayed in place, processing what he just heard. Zoey sounded so.. deflated, even if the problem didn’t seem all that huge to him. He leaned away from the door, deciding if he should finally leave. 

All of a sudden the door opens and the spider jumped backwards in shock, so did Zoey who opened the door, staring at him in confusion. She wasn’t wearing her usual clothing from earlier, she changed into a pink oversized long sleeved shirt, and purple pajamas. Angel stood there awkwardly, blinking stupidly without a word. 

“..Angel.” Zoey started, she raised an eyebrow in confusion, “What are you doing here? In front of my room?” 

_Shit- I’m screwed_ The spider thought. 

Angel cleared his throat, straightening himself, he decided to act casual and well, lie. “I was just passin’ by, and uh..” He trailed off, Zoey crossed her arms and just looked at him, expectant. _I can’t tell her I was eavesdropping! That’ll be so awkward-_ “And.. Charlie uh, asked me ta check on ya! Yeah, she was worryin’ about ya so.. there’s that.” 

Zoey’s ear twitched, “Uh huh... well, tell her I’m fine.” _You’re really not, stop lying to yourself_ “I’ll be resting for the night now, good night.” 

Zoey turned and closed the door, but it was suddenly stopped by Angel’s arm blocking the way, the Roe deer looked at him, even more confused. The spider himself didn’t know why he just did that, and was internally beating himself for it. “Angel. What’s going on?” Zoey asked suspiciously.

“Charlie’s eventually gonna check on you herself. Ya don’t seem fine ta me.” Angel didn’t know why he was staying for longer than he thought he would, he crossed a pair of arms and looked at Zoey, “If I’m gonna tell her yer fine ya better actually be, otherwise you’d also hurt her feelings.” 

Zoey was quiet, she didn’t really know what to say or do, but she definitely didn’t want them to see her for how she truly is at the moment. But.. at the same time, she didn’t want to hurt Charlie’s feelings by lying. Angel stood there, waiting expectantly, he noticed how Zoey seemed to be nervous all of a sudden. He awkwardly cleared his throat, “Uh, y’know nothin’s gonna happen with us just standin’ here.” 

Zoey was snapped out of her trance, she shook her head to regain her composure. “Right, right.. um.. are you gonna come in or?” She gestured to her room, Angel shrugged. Sighing, Zoey let him inside, her room was almost the same as all the other rooms but the bed was slightly bigger and more comfy looking, her stuff was neatly put away in her closet but the spider could see some of her things on her nightstand. 

Zoey closed the door and quietly shuffled onto her bed, sitting down on it, “Make yourself comfortable I guess, I’m not really sure how to feel about you being in here.” She said in an awkward tone, Angel was equally as awkward but he couldn’t back out now, Zoey shouldn’t know that he was listening in on her. 

Angel crosses his legs over each other as he sat, “Me neither, but let’s ignore that for now. Charlie wants ta know how you are and you’re clearly bothered. So what’s up?” 

Zoey sighed, her shoulders slumping slightly along with her ears, “It’s kind of stupid, really, what Alastor said isn’t even supposed to be an insult but, I’m here making a big deal out of it.” She looked out a window, the light from the evening illuminated the dark room, it reflected in Zoey’s different colored eyes. 

Angel shrugged, “Well, Smiles is an asshole, everyone is, it ain’t that hard ta ignore what they say to you.” Zoey didn’t seem reassured and instead looked at him, slightly irritated. 

“Maybe it’s easy for you, and others, but it’s more difficult when everyone sees you as a weak, helpess little demon who won’t survive a day here.” Her voice was suddenly sharp, but she kept calm. 

Angel was slightly taken aback at this, she sounded so sad and defeated earlier and now she sounded like she wasn’t at all, Zoey looked away again, her ears pointing backwards in her annoyance. “Yeah, I get that a lot, even if I do it doesn’t make it any easier to take.” 

The spider frowned, he didn’t exactly mean what he said that way, but it was too late to take it back. Angel sighed, shaking his head, “Look toots, I ain’t sayin’ it gets easier as more people throw that kind of shit towards ya, but ya gotta learn how ta ignore it or they’ll keep doin’ it. You get what I’m saying?” 

The Roe deer didn’t answer for a while. “Even if you learn how to ignore all that they’ll still try.” Her voice was suddenly soft and quiet, almost how it was before Angel was let inside, he was quiet as well, “Alastor isn’t any different, that’s true, but I’m not like anyone who can take it without making it a bigger deal than it actually is.” 

The spider couldn’t help but feel.. weird, was it pity? Pity that Zoey was still hurting herself over what Alastor said? Pity that so many demons have done the same to her that made her like this? He shook his head, if he was gonna have to tell Charlie and Vaggie that Zoey was alright he’s gonna have to try and make her feel better. It isn’t like him, he was also an asshole afterall, a jerk, a rebel, and yet here he is. 

The spider scooted a little closer to Zoey, deciding to not let anyone else realize what he’s doing, she turned to him, a little curious. Angel crossed his arms and didn’t really meet her eyes, he stared out the same window she was just moments ago. He spoke in a quieter voice. 

“Probably not now, but ignorin’ it is a start, it’s the worst of the worst down here, remember that, aight? They don’t care about yer feelin’s or anythin’, you should do the same if ya wanna build thicker skin. Charlie might be an exception ta all the sinners down here. However. It’s every man for himself in the end.” 

Zoey blinked up at him, slightly surprised, the spider still didn’t meet her eyes, the light from the window illuminated them both, sitting on the bed. The Roe deer thought about what Angel said, he was right, she shouldn’t get too used to Charlie’s kindness because the rest of the people down here are the complete opposite. And out of everyone in the hotel she looks to be the nicest as well, and remembering Vaggie’s talk with her about Alastor it was about right that he wasn’t nice in the slightest. 

“..You’re right..” Zoey mumbled after some seconds of silence, “This is Hell, I shouldn’t have expected absolutely _everyone_ to be as nice as Charlie is, maybe I’m not as tough as I think I am despite being able to take care of myself.” Zoey frowned, “I really shouldn’t be making anymore fuss about it, I’ll try to forget it by morning.” She takes a deep breath and exhales, she felt somewhat better now, never expected the reason to be because of Angel. 

The Roe deer pushed away her negative thoughts and smiled softly up at the spider, “Hey uh.. thanks, it isn’t really that big of a thing you did but I appreciate it.” She looked away shyly, “You can leave now if you wish to, I don’t wanna take anymore of your time, it’s also getting late anyways.” 

Angel nodded after a while, he stood up and awkwardly cleared his throat, “Well uh, don’t mention it, I’ll go now I guess.” Angel walked over to her door, opening it, before he left he heard Zoey’s voice one more time. 

“Thank you Angel, I really mean it.” 

He stood there for a bit longer before closing the door behind him, Angel let out a sigh, he was turning to leave when he nearly screamed as he flinched backwards, “What the-?!” He lowered his voice as he glared at the demon in front of him, “Smiles what the hell are ya doin’ here?!” 

Alastor wore his usual smile, his eyes halflidded, he hummed. “I could say the same for you, my effiminate friend.” His grin widened, “I see you and the little doe had quite the talk. How adorable, really.” He snorted. 

Angel rolled his eyes in annoyance, “Yeah well thanks for eavesdroppin’ on us, totally not creepy at all Smiles. If you’ll excuse me I—“ He tried to leave but Alastor stepped in his way, again, looking straight at him, Angel narrowed his eyes, “The hell do ya want from me?” 

Alastor laughed, though it wasn’t his usual loud and cheery booming laughter, “Oh Angel, I’m afraid you’ve forgotten who you actually are, a sinner taking pity and concern on someone else? How strange.” He tilted his head at him. 

Angel was near to hitting the deer in front of him, “What’s it to you? And taking _pity and concern_ on someone else? I wasn’t doin’ that, I was about to sleep and she was gettin’ annoying, stressin’ over what you said. I just wanted her ta shut up.” 

The Radio Demon narrowed his eyes at him again, a low static noise emitting from him, Angel crossed his arms and stared at Alastor. “Besides, ain’t this strange for you as well? Ya normally don’t care about anyone else’s business other than your own, yet here ya are.” 

“Watch your mouth, Angel.” Alastor said lowly, “You have no right to assume what is going on inside my own thoughts, I suggest you leave before I rip your arms clean off.” 

The spider rolled his eyes, not wasting anymore time to leave, Alastor was then left alone in the hallway. He was quite riled up about what just happened that he forgot why he came here in the first place, Alastor fixed his bowtie and melted into his shadow, going under Zoey’s door and into her room. 

Zoey was sleeping when Alastor materialized back, he stood near the edge of her bed, he looked curiously at her and walked a little closer. She slept peacefully, her chest rising and falling steadily, a feature Alastor didn’t quite observe of her very well was the black splotch surrounding her left eye. He studied it for a few moments, it must be an indication of how she died then. 

“Such a fragile little deer.” Alastor murmured to himself, suddenly, she started to move. Alastor was about to disappear when he realized Zoey was just shifting in her sleep, she did it a few times and suddenly her peaceful expression contorted into a slightly disturbed one. The deer demon watched in curiosity as she started to mumble. 

“Hmm.. what is going on with her?” He wondered, she then let out a whimper through her uncomfortable tossing and turning. It then clicked with Alastor. Zoey was having a bad dream of sorts, and it looked like a really terrible one because of how she’s acting, his grin widened a little. “She’s having trouble sleeping, hm? Well then...” 

Alastor stepped closer and stroked her cheek with a claw, Zoey flinched slightly in her sleep, the deer demon couldn’t help but feel... entertained to see her like this, his form of entertainment was truly twisted but he couldn’t care less. Alastor chuckled, his eyes glowing brightly with intent. 

“Let’s have some entertainment before bed, shall we?”


	5. Entertainment At It’s Finest

Alastor pressed his palm against Zoey’s forehead, a green glow starting to emit from it, the Roe deer stirred uncomfortably in her sleep and after a while Alastor was engulfed by the same green glow. The room was lit brightly for a few moments, and then the light died down, it was dim again. 

Alastor had disappeared from Zoey’s room. 

_The Radio Demon appeared in a black void, he grinned proudly to himself, he had successfully entered Zoey’s mind. At the moment it was just a black void, no sounds, nothing, Alastor looked around curiously. Eventually, he saw a faint silhouette starting to come to view, as well as a certain place, “Now let’s see what’s troubling the doe’s sleep.” Alastor said to himself, walking towards the scene._

_As he got close enough he felt something soft beneath his feet, Alastor glanced down and realized he was stepping on grass, another look around and he saw that he was in a forest. It was late at night, barely any stars in the sky that could be seen, not even the moon. His ears perked up when he heard a twig breaking, that was when he saw.._

_“Ah, there she is.”_

_Alastor drawled, the Roe deer was walking cautiously in the dark forest, she was really nervous, her ears twitching constantly and her arms were hugged around her figure. Zoey’s back was turned to him as she walked, the deer demon walked toward her and tried to reach out but his hand just went through, the Roe deer didn’t feel, see or hear him at all. His smile turned into a slightly annoyed one._

_“Oh bother.” The Radio Demon muttered. Irritated he couldn’t have even just a little fun with the scared doe. He’d just have to watch then. Alastor heard something again, a low eerie growl, Zoey noticed it too and she flinched, she turned back on herself and he could see the genuine fear and terror in her eyes._

_“P-Please.. n-not again..” Zoey’s voice quivered, it was shaky, scared and pleading, it made Alastor grin in delight. Whatever it was that scared her this much would provide him the entertainment he desired, though it’s a shame he isn’t doing all the work. The growl was heard again, but louder this time, he saw how Zoey trembled even more. “I-I gotta get o-out of here..”_

_She started to quicken her pace, Alastor followed along, pleased that he would be able to witness all this._

_Then, suddenly something black started to surface from the ground in front of Zoey, her eyes widened and she nearly stumbled back, she started breathing heavily in her panic. “N-No! I-It c-can’t be back t-this soon—!”_

_Too late._

_The black mass started to rise into a creature of true nightmares, the Roe deer was frozen in place, a black shadowy figure was in front of them now. It had a terrifyingly wide grin, sharp white teeth and disturbing red eyes, it towered over Zoey and an eerie laugh came out of it’s mouth. Breaking from her trance Zoey turned and started to run, all the whole whimpering and pleading in fear for it all to stop, the creature gave chase quickly. As it disappeared into the woods after Zoey the atmosphere was suddenly lighter, it’s presence seemed to cause a heavy, tense weight in the air._

_“Interesting.” Alastor murmured, smiling widely, “The poor doe is being chased by some sort of monster, it has quite an affect on her being as well. This is very entertaining so far!” He laughed, he melted into his shadow and followed them, Alastor reappeared and the black creature was dangerously close to catching Zoey, she was panting heavily, tears streaming down her cheeks as she tried to get away._

_“G-GET AWAY FROM ME!” She yelled desperately, she tried to use pink flames to hurt the creature but they were just absorbed by it’s black body, it laughed loudly, unharmed. The creature then spes up and then tackled Zoey to the ground, black claws holding her down by her neck, Zoey cried out and she looked up fearfully at it. She was beyond fear now, she could barely speak and was shaking violently._

_Alastor tilted his head at this, she wasn’t running anymore, but he wasn’t gonna lie saying all this isn’t just some of the best entertainment he’s had in a while, seeing how scared Zoey is made him feel such delight. An evil cackle came from the creature and it raised it’s free arm, suddenly, a knife was materialized and Zoey started to shake her head._

_“N-NO! STOP! PLEASE D-DON’T—!”_

_The knife was then brought down after the creature let out loud, booming laughter, Zoey let out a scream as the knife neared the left side of her face. Alastor suddenly glowed green, he felt the world shake and he almost forgot, Zoey was about to wake up. He won’t let her see him, grinning at the scene one last time he disappeared in the blink of an eye. Zoey’s last scream echoing fading away as well._

_“AAAAHHHHHHH!”_

She woke up with a startled hushed scream, her chest rose and fall so quickly that she felt like her heart was about to burst out, Zoey was also shaking like she had been in her nightmare, cold sweat rolling down her face and neck. The Roe deer gulped shakily and looked around, her eyes terrified and bloodshot from her tears. 

She was back in her room, nothing was out of place, the light from outside was darker since it’s the middle of the night. Zoey tried to calm her heavy breathing, feeling like the air was sucked out of her, she whimpered, “O-Oh g-god... i-it.. i-it happened again...” She suddenly raised her hand to her face, touching the left side, where the monster strikes every time in the nightmare. 

A tear rolled down her cheek and she shut her eyes tightly, unable to keep her emotions in anymore. 

Zoey covered her face as she sobbed, she was just so overwhelmed and.. so scared, that she didn’t want to go back to sleep, knowing what was waiting for her. Her body trembled along with her chestracking sobs, she curled her knees to her chest and let herself cry. 

Why did this have to happen almost every night..? Almost always, a nightmare would occur and disturb Zoey’s sleep, because of this she couldn’t get any shut eye at all at times. Whenever she’d wake up well rested she’d consider herself lucky, that she was spared the emotional stress and trauma for at least one night. In those days, she would feel hope.. that the nightmares were just temporary and it all finally turned around.

It never did. 

Her hope was just shattered every time.

It’s been going on for days, weeks, months... almost two years. Zoey just sat there on her bed, crying, it seemed to go on forever, as if this was some sort of punishment for the sins she had committed when she was alive. She couldn’t help but find it ridiculous that she couldn’t even remember what she did, looks like the world was messing with her. 

The Roe deer sniffled, wiping her tears away, she was always on her own when it comes to dealing with her nightmares, well... she had Violet, her closest friend, but she wasn’t always with her when she has a night terror. Zoey wished she was... Her sobs had calmed down quite a bit, tears still rolled down her face but she was somewhat calmer now. Her ears were pressed against her head in her sadness, and she felt all the more hopeless, Zoey had no plan to go back to sleep. Not with that nightmare of a creature waiting. 

The Roe deer looked at her nightstand, where her phone, her ribbon, and the picture of her and Violet stayed, she barely had any energy left. Raising a hand slowly it was then coated in faint, pink magic, the same magic surrounded the picture and it was levitated over to her lap. Luckily the light from her window reached it and she could see it in the darkness of her room, while Violet wasn’t with her all the time Zoey always kept the picture with her, and not only because it was so precious to her but..

It was the only thing that brought her comfort after a nightmare, she let out a soft sigh, feeling really tired, emotionally and physically. Zoey laid back down, keeping the picture close, she wasn’t planning to go back to sleep but she felt her eyes slowly droop, much to her disliking. The Roe deer let out a yawn, and her eyes closed again, letting the exhaustion overcome her. 

She wasn’t alone again. 

Alastor was in the shadows the whole time, he remained quiet, he saw how distraught Zoey was after the dream. He felt how much she didn’t want to go to sleep again, despite being a very late hour, and how tired she looked. Alastor stepped closer to her when he believed she was asleep again somehow, he just stared at her. 

“My, Zoey dear, you experienced quite the trauma didn’t you?” 

He said quietly to himself, he surely was entertained by it, but something was off. That black creature. It seemed... to affect him in a way as well, he memorized how it looked, and he couldn’t help but feel strange. Zoey was snoring lightly, he could see bags under her eyes from the lack of sleep. 

He leaned away from her, deciding he saw all that he needed, his smile widened. “So... the little doe experiences nightmares, hm? And truly terrifying and vivid ones as well..” He chuckled darkly, a low static emitting from him. 

“ _Oh imagine the possibilities... of what I could do with that information.._ ” 

With that, Alastor was gone.


	6. Getting Along, Kind Of..?

It was still a little dark out when Zoey sat on her bed, awake, despite how tired she still was she wasn’t intending on sleeping again. The Roe deer let out a yawn, the soft early morning light of around 4 AM in Hell coming from her window to show just how early it was, normally no one would be up at this hour, especially if they didn’t get enough sleep. Zoey rubbed her tired eyes, running a hand through her slightly messy hair, “Just go on with your day like usual.” She mumbled to herself, getting up and stretching.

Since she won’t be sleeping she decided to just get ready for later, some may say it’s unhealthy for her to be up already even if she’s only slept for less than the recommended amount, but it’s always been like this. Sleepless nights due to her nightmares, if she _does_ get some sleep it’s still not enough to make her fully rested, Zoey tried several things to help her sleep but nothing worked for more than a few nights, if she was lucky.

She attempted drinking tea before sleeping or after a nightmare, it only worked for a night, she attempted a different sleeping position but that didn’t work for long either. 

Zoey let out a sigh when she finished fixing her bed, she knew too well she was tired but didn’t bother. She opened her closet to grab a fresh set of clothes, after that she headed for the bathroom to wash up. 

The water running was the only sound during this somewhat peaceful hour. Despite the circumstances Zoey quite enjoyed how quiet the world was during this time, she cherished it actually, even more so because the usual chaos that happens all day is something she hated. The Roe deer was wiping her thick fluffy hair dry when she stepped out of the bathroom, wearing her usual outfit, she placed the towel neatly away somewhere and went to her nightstand.

Picking up her ribbon and placing it on the side of her head, she checked the time on her phone, “5 AM...” She murmured, she put her phone away and sat back down on her bed, she started feeling a little cold when her nightmare played once more in her head. Zoey shivered, she really despised what she was going through, it’s been going on for as long as she remembered and it wasn’t stopping. 

That black creature... whatever it was, or what it’s supposed to mean, it’s been haunting her... during her first night dreaming about it she didn’t see it just yet, only heard it’s creepy laughter and sounds. As time went on it then showed itself, revealing to be a real creature of nightmares, it chases her down mercilessly until the Roe deer is pinned down, then.. killed. 

Zoey unconsciously touched the left side of her face, she shivered again as if the knife was being pointed at her, to strike down and deliver the killing blow. It always felt so real... it was disturbing. 

“Don’t think anymore about it..” She took deep breaths, “You’re safe from your nightmares for a couple hours..” Zoey specifically uses that phrase to calm her nerves when she’s up early, it’s little comfort, she admits, but it does help. Now she was wondering about what she could do, everyone else was still most likely asleep. 

Zoey closed her door behind her, the hallways were empty and quiet like she expected, her footsteps echo a little as she headed for the lobby. The Roe deer decided to make herself some hot chocolate to try and keep herself up, she didn’t like coffee, and sugar always works on her. As she neared the main room, her ears twitched at a certain sound, she paused and listened, it sounded like.. someone was cooking, the sizzling of food could be heard. Zoey frowned in confusion, who could be up this early? She walked to the kitchen where the sounds were coming from, also hearing faint humming. 

_Someone’s definitely up, but.. who?_ Zoey wondered. Hesitantly, she pushed open the door just enough to look inside, she was surprised at the delicious smell that wafted into the air, it made her a little hungry. What made her even more surprised was seeing the person behind the cooking, her eyes widened upon seeing Alastor, humming a tune as he cooked food for what seemed to be breakfast. Eggs, bacon, and a dish that had a spicy yet delicious smell to it. 

Zoey felt the uneasiness return, she still wasn’t exactly acquainted to Alastor, and just being in his presence made her nervous. 

“Good morning, Zoey dear, why are you up so early, hmm?” 

The Roe deer stifled a surprised scream, she jumped backwards and stared at Alastor in shock, he wasn’t even looking at her and yet he _knew_ she was there. Zoey gulped, steadying herself, “I-I, u-uh... h-hi?” She stuttered, mentally facepalming. The deer demon let out an amused laugh. 

“Quite jumpy this morning, are we?” Alastor mused, turning off the stove to start placing the food on the table, Zoey just noticed that he wasn’t wearing his red pinstripe suit, instead just wearing his red shirt with an upside down cross, his slacks and an apron wrapped around his form. With a snap of his fingers all the food he cooked appeared neatly on the table, along with plates, napkins, glasses and utensils. 

The Roe deer shook her head, trying to calm herself. “You’re up.. early.” Zoey looked at him, confused. Again, Alastor laughed in amusement. 

“But, of course dear! I wake up before everyone else to make breakfast, and because it’s _far_ more peaceful during hours like this. Hell can be quite chaotic if I say so myself.” He hummed, turning to face her, his usual smile on his face. He always had it... it made Zoey curious, how in the world would anyone be able to smile _all_ the time? 

Alastor noticed her observing him, his eyes became halflidded and his grin grew slightly, “Something wrong, darling?” 

Zoey blinked, shaking her head quickly, “N-No, sorry I must’ve spaced out..” She almost forgot what she went here for, the Roe deer went to a cabinet and searched for some hot chocolate to make, also grabbing a mug and a thermos for hot water. Alastor observed her, hands neatly folded behind his back, she felt his eyes on her the entire time. “..Why are you looking at me like that?” Zoey turned to him, raising an eyebrow. 

Alastor’s eyes widened slightly, “Ah, my apologies dear! Haha! I was merely observing you, it’s still quite early to be having something with that much sugar.” His distaste for sweets could be heard in his tone, Zoey felt herself frown, remembering what happened yesterday. “And something seems to be troubling you.” 

Her ear twitched, she waited for the hot water as she spoke, “Nothing’s wrong.” She said as casually as possible, the deer demon’s eyes narrowed in suspicion and curiosity.

“Oh?” Alastor murmured, “My dear, we have only met yesterday but I can see you are not the best liar down here.” He let out a chuckle, he saw how she tensed ever so slightly as she stirred the hot sugary liquid in her mug, not responding. “Am I correct?” 

Zoey closed her eyes, trying not to look irritated, “I’m not lying, even if so it’s none of your business, Alastor.” She took a cautious sip of her hot chocolate after blowing it a few times to cool it down, Alastor stared at her, eyes narrowed. A low static hum coming from his direction. Zoey levitated her drink and turned to leave, “If you’ll excuse me, I’ll just go—“ 

Like before she bumped into Alastor, nearly spilling her drink, her ears pointed back in annoyance. The static grew slightly louder, Zoey felt herself grow nervous as she looked up at him, his eyes seeming to be glowing brighter. His smile was eerie and unnerving. 

“..Alastor..” Zoey warned in a low voice, her own eyes narrowing. 

“Do not think you can escape me so easily little doe.” Alastor said lowly, his voice was menacing yet calm, “Answer my question honestly, and I might let you go.” 

Zoey gritted her teeth, “Did you hear what I said? I said it was ‘none of your business’. Unless you didn’t hear me the first time.” 

“Choose your words more carefully, Zoey dear.” The menace in his tone seemed to increase, despite how much he scared her the Roe deer didn’t want to be pushed around, especially being forced to tell her problem. As powerful and intimidating Alastor was she wasn’t gonna give in to anything he wanted from her.

“I’m not telling you anything.” She said sternly, “That’s final.” 

Just as the tension was at it’s peak footsteps could be heard from the lobby, the two stopped when Charlie and Vaggie eventually came to view, the princess grinned widely upon seeing Alastor and Zoey. “Good morning you two! I see you two were having a nice chat together.” 

_Define nice when it comes to being with this smiling little—_ Zoey cut herself off, hiding her previous irritation and smiling politely at the princess. “Good morning Charlie, I was just making myself a drink, talking with Alastor was just... a little bonus, I guess.” _A bonus? Yeah right.._. 

Charlie nodded, smiling happily. “Did you sleep well? I hope the room was comfortable enough for you.”

Alright, that definitely struck something in Zoey, her shoulders tensed and her smile strained a little. _They can’t know, nobody can, or even should_ She also personally disliked that kind of question now, seeing it as some sort of insult now that she can barely get a good night’s sleep. “I slept fine, no worries.” She kept her voice calm. 

“Great! And I see you’ve already cooked breakfast, Alastor, thanks again!” The princess smiled at him, Alastor kept his smile despite what just occured between him and Zoey. 

“Of course, darling! It’s a pleasure, really.” 

As Charlie and Alastor chatted amiably, Zoey took this as an opportunity to leave them for now, especially Alastor. She could barely stand even being in the same room as him, let alone talk normally with him, the nervousness she felt everytime would make her scared of him. Zoey sighed, taking another few sips of her hot chocolate, feeling herself get more energized from the sugar. At least it was a good alternative to coffee.

Alastor secretly watched Zoey the entire time, not quite comfortable with letting her go without answering his question, despite him asking he had an idea of what kind of trouble she experienced the night before. She’s being plagued by nightmares, as it seemed it hasn’t been the first time, he didn’t like it but he was really curious. 

His grin widened, he’ll find out soon. He’ll make sure of it. 

Whatever Zoey was hiding, he’ll eventually figure it out. All for the sake of entertaining himself, she definitely was a great candidate for some fun..

_Later.._

Zoey was sitting down by a window, she just finished eating breakfast, she didn’t like having to be with Alastor again but she couldn’t let anyone see something was wrong. She could feel his eyes on her, watching with evil intent, Zoey was right to not trust him at all. She was looking out into the city, drowned in her own thoughts, she didn’t notice Charlie walking over to her. 

“Hey Zoey, do you mind if I talk to you?” Charlie asked, Zoey blinked and turned to her curiously. 

“Yes, what is it?” She asked, standing up. Charlie grinned sheepishly. 

“Well uh, I want to apologize for you having to see Angel and Vaggie argue yesterday, I hope it didn’t make a bad impression for you..” She looked at her nervously, Zoey smiled softly and shook her head. 

“It’s okay Charlie, don’t worry. If it makes you feel bettee about it I’m not that bothered.” Zoey grinned sincerely, the princess seemed relieved and she smiled back. 

“Thank you, Zoey. I’m also sorry about Alastor.. we saw you leave after..” She shook her head, “Anyways, Angel says he helped you feel better somehow, I’m glad.” 

Zoey nodded, her smile turning warm, “He did his best, even if it was a little awkward.” She laughed, “I’m okay though, thank you for the concern.” 

Charlie nodded. “You’re welcome, I also came to ask a favor.” Zoey waited patiently. “Vaggie figured as a punishment for Angel’s outburst he has to go and get this month’s groceries, and since you two seemed to have gotten along a little, so.. do you mind going with him?” 

The Roe deer blinked in surprise, she wasn’t expecting it, but al the same, she thought it could be nice. Zoey felt watched again, knowing too well it was Alastor watching her again, it would also do her some good to stay away from him, even for just a little while.. and Angel wasn’t all that bad. 

Smiling, she nodded, “Sure I can go with him, I don’t mind at all.” 

“Thanks Zoey! Now, you and him can leave shortly, Vaggie just left to go tell him—“ 

“ _Seriously?!_ ” An annoyed voice yelled, the two jumped, Charlie just sighed and shook her head. Zoey saw Angel irritatingly stomping over to the lobby, turning around to point at Vaggie, “How come _I’m_ bein’ the one punished here?! Ya got some nerve thinkin’ you didn’t do anythin’ wrong too!” 

Vaggie glared, keeping her cool this time, “You started it, now shut your whining ass and get it all over with if you wanna go back to doing whatever the hell you want.” Angel was about to yell again but Charlie stopped him.

“Angel, it’s decided. But don’t worry, Zoey’s coming to help you so it’ll hopefully not take as long.” She gestured to the Roe deer. The spider let out an exasperated groan of annoyance, rolling his eyes. 

“Jesus fuckin’ Christ, how the hell is that reassuring?” 

“Could you _please_ be nicer to Zoey? She didn’t do anything to you Angel.” Vaggie said seriously, crossing her arms. The spider ignored her, sighing in frustration, he grumbled to himself and walked over to the door. 

“Ugh, whatever. Zoey come on, let’s get this shit over with.” Angel cursed under his breath, opening the door, Zoey awkwardly waved to everyone before following the irritated arachnid, her nerves easing a little as she disappeared from Alastor’s view.


	7. The Spider In Kinky Boots

“Goddamn Vaggie, thinkin’ she hasn’t done shit when she joined in the argument, and havin’ the audacity to punish only _me_. Like who the hell does that? And why didn’t Charlie say anythin’ about it? They’re girlfriends but that’s just fuckin’ unfair.” 

Zoey awkwardly walked alongside the rambling, irritated spider demon around the streets of Hell, Angel had been talking to himself nonstop ever since they left the hotel, complaining about him having to leave for the groceries as a punishment. Saying he was annoyed was an understatement, he was _pissed_ , going on and on about how Vaggie started the whole spectacle they had yesterday. The Roe deer didn’t exactly know what to say, and just listened in awkward silence.

Angel clenched a fist, gritting his teeth, “I swear I’m gonna get back at her fer this! That’ll teach her somethin’. Ain’t gonna put up with her shit next time.” He suddenly turned when he heard someone clear their throat, he looked at Zoey, his expression unchanging. “Oh right, I almost forgot you were here.” 

Zoey just shook her head, “You were caught up in your rambling, I just didn’t know what to say about it.” 

The spider demon rolled his eyes, “So you heard everythin’, great. Couldn’t keep my mouth shut, but I’m just real pissed right now.” He looked straight ahead, keeping himself upright, a pair of arms crossed. The streets got busier as they neared a grocery store, demons chatting with each other, vehicles passing by and even the ocassional screams of an unfortunate sinner. This was all normal however, the air wasn’t at all pleasant either, neither was the atmosphere. 

Zoey meekly spoke, “I won’t tell anyone about your um.. _rant_ if you want, you might get in trouble for it after all.” She picked up her pace, Angel was walking fairly quickly, looking impatient. When she was beside him she just now realized how much shorter she was compared to him. Angel grumbled. 

“Whatever, toots, I’ll get in trouble no matter what, just wait and see.” He rubbed the space near his different colored eyes, Zoey found them quite nice to look at, she rarely sees demons with heterochromia and is quite intrigued with them. It took her a while to realize her eyes were different, she didn’t really pay attention to her own appearance shortly after arriving in Hell. After a while, the spider sighed in exasperation, “The grocery is a few more blocks away, thank god, I just wanna go the hell back.” 

“Aside from being... unfairly treated..” The Roe deer started carefully, Angel looked at her with a raised eyebow, “Why are you so upset about this?” 

“What, why are ya askin’ all of a sudden?” The spider snapped, Zoey flinched a little, she frowned. “Don’t ya understand? I enjoy the freedom I have at the hotel and right now I’m spendin’ it on _grocery shopping_!” He raised his hands up for emphasis.

“It’s really not that bad you know.” Zoey said, “To be fair, Angel, you _did_ do something that wasn’t good, if anything this punishment isn’t the worse they could give you.” She finished, looking up at him, Angel wanted to protest but he just closed his mouth again. Groaning as he walked. 

“God, why did I even bother? Ya ain’t gonna listen to me, maybe after this we can forget it all happened.” Angel grunted, Zoey was slightly taken aback, her ears flattening a little. 

“W-Wait, Angel, I didn’t mean it to sound like that..” Zoey put in quickly, “I was just—“

“Save it, I know what yer gonna say, it ain’t gonna work. Whateva I say about things like this they always see me as the one who did the most wrong, givin’ me a chance ta speak but ignorin’ it after.” Angel said harshly, though his voice wasn’t raised, it was lower now. He noticed how Zoey looked at him and looked away, focusing ahead. “Can’t really blame them sometimes, I _am_ an asshole so, there ya go.” 

The walk became quiet, at least between the two, the busy streets were on full swing around them. Though Zoey and Angel, like many others, had gotten accustomed to the usual chaos, you just have to, this is where you’ll be staying for eternity. Zoey didn’t like the stares she was getting, some demons would swoon over the spider next to her, and then glare at her the next. She unconsciously stepped closer to Angel, seeing demons leave him alone. 

Angel must’ve noticed because he looked questioningly at her, “Ya weren’t this close just a while ago.” He said, “What, somethin’ botherin’ you? Not that I care a lot really though.”

That kind of stung but it was also kind of expected from him, or anyone really, like the spider said the night before, everyone here is an asshole, and that it’s Hell. Everyone except well, Charlie and Zoey’s dear friend, Violet. 

The Roe deer gulped slightly, “They’re looking at me like I’m some sort of target, t-this is all normal, right..?” Angel blinked, glancing at a few certain demons who eyed Zoey, not in a good way whatsoever. 

“Ignore them, and yeah, it ain’t an uncommon thing, you should know that by now. Everyone here just seems to be wanting you dead, again.” It didn’t seem to reassure Zoey, she just looked even more nervous, her ear twitching as she walked close to him. 

Angel let out a sigh, “Zoey, hate ta break it to ya but it ain’t gonna change, even if you prove you can beat the shit out of them if you wanted. It’s just how it is, all you can do is deal with it.” 

“I know, I.. I just want to be left alone, even for just a day, no threatening looks, or anything. I’ve noticed no one seems to be wanting to bother you at all.” Zoey glanced up at him, looking as if he was being studied, “Is it because of how tall you are?” She blurted out, tilting her head to the side. 

Angel blinked, then suddenly let out a snort, he couldn’t really help it. This little deer was as innocent as Charlie, he eventually started to laugh. All the while Zoey looked at him, confused. 

“Oh man—“ Angel stifled his laughter, “Ya got me there, haha! I mean sure, I am pretty fuckin’ tall, but even that doesn’t intimidate some demons. Hell, they’ll probably even try ta mess with ya despite being shorter, it’s either they have guts or are just stupid.” His laughter died down, but his expression was amused more than anything else. “Come to think of it, you _are_ pretty short, toots.”

The Roe deer’s ears pointed backwards as she glared, blushing in embarassment, “I’m am _not_ short! You’re just so freakishly tall!” Again, Angel laughed, then he ruffled Zoey’s hair, purposely messing it up. She yelped and shook his hand away, patting her hair back down. 

“Whatever ya say, it ain’t changin’ your height.” He grinned mockingly, Zoey opened her mouth to get back at him when Angel cut her off, “We’re finally here! Now that we are let’s just go.” Smirking he went ahead, the Roe deer bit back her annoyance and begrudgingly followed. 

...

Zoey hummed and tapped her chin as she looked at the list they were given, she and Angel stood before a counter, Angel was holding a basket or two with two arms, it must be really _handy_ to have more than two arms, okay, that joke was just bad. Not many demons were in the grocery, though that wasn’t a problem.

“Let’s see.. eggs, cleaning supplies, milk, juice, cooking oil, drugs, and— wait a minute.” Zoey frowned in confusion at the hastily scribbled looking word that was out of place in the list, a snicker from Angel made her look up, suspicious. 

“Angel.” She started slowly, the spider demon was stifling his laugh, not helping his case. “Drugs weren’t on the list before, you know it.” 

“Whaaaat?” Angel mused, grinning humurously, “It’s on the list and monthly groceries are important, ya know? Charlie and Vaggie say ta get _everything_ on the list.” 

Zoey raised an eyebrow, “Uh huh. Why would we need drugs at the hotel? They’re not allowed.” 

“Are ya questionin’ Charlie and Vaggie?” He gasped, looking accusingly. “They said everythin’, and I mean everythin’!” 

The Roe deer shook her head, starting to walk towards the many aisles, “Sorry Angel, you’re not fooling me, we’re definitely not getting any drugs.” 

“Aw _come_ on!” Angel complained, catching up to her with the baskets, looking irritated. “I thought I could get away with that! Yer no fun.” He huffed, pouting like a kid. Zoey couldn’t help but laugh, checking a certain aisle for eggs, she found a good priced pack and levitated it to one basket.

“Really, Angel? Only an idiot wouldn’t notice how out of place the ‘drugs’ were, and Charlie has neat handwriting.” She mused, walking ahead to start getting more of the things they needed, the spider rolled his eyes. 

Angel snorted after a while, “I half expected yer eyes ta be kinda shit because of them being different colors, guess I was wrong.” 

Zoey’s eye twitched, that insulted her, actually. Glancing at Angel’s own eyes she glared a little, “Look who’s talking, you have different colored eyes too, you idiot.” 

Angel snickered, “They’re workin’ fine, even if I’m considered pretty old, ain’t showin’ though.” He stretched, “Anyway, let’s get on with the rest of the list, toots.” 

Zoey let out an exasperated sigh, honestly she shouldn’t expect Angel to be really nice, despite him being somewhat helpful the night before. His words rung in her head, and she decided to let it all slide for now. She hated losing her cool.. 

The rest of the grocery trip wasn’t too eventful, Zoey took care of getting everything, all the while making sure Angel doesn’t sneak any alcohol or drugs into the baskets, he tried several times before she finally gave him a threat. Angel would also just randomly talk about certain things, sometimes still bringing up how annoyed he was at Vaggie, the Roe deer barely listened though. While she picked the things they needed to buy her mind would wander off, she tried not reliving her nightmare, she really did, it still manages to haunt her even in the morning.. 

Zoey really, truly wished this didn’t have to happen, whatever things happened to her in her human life that are reoccuring, slowly might she add, shouldn’t be bothering her this much in the first place. The first time it all happened she thought it was a temporary thing, but she was terribly mistaken, it did _not_ stop, up to the present. Her shoulders sagged, the sugar from her hot chocolate seemed to be not working anymore because she was starting to feel sleepy, so much for staying up and alert... 

“Hey. Zoey, hey, ya still there?” Zoey blinked quickly when she heard Angel snap his fingers near her face, she shook her head and looked at him, confused. Angel was holding the baskets filled with groceries, they were both near the counter to pay, he raised an eyebrow at her. 

“Sorry, what was it?” Zoey asked. 

“I was askin’ if we got everythin’, Vaggie would probably yell our ears off if we forgot somethin’.” Angel rolled his eyes, Zoey grabbed the list and glanced over it.

She shook her head, “No, we have everything, well I guess that’s the groceris taken care of now.” She tucked the list away, grabbing the money Charlie handed to pay for everything. Once they were done and the items they purchased are now inside grocery bags, they prepared to leave. Zoey was suddenly pushed forward, she yelped and nearly stumbled onto Angel, he was pretty surprised and barely managed to help her. The Roe deer’s ears twitched upon hearing a voice that spoke.

“Watch it.” A male voice growled, Zoey’s eyes narrowed as she looked back at the demon, he was more human than a lot of the sinners down here, the only indications he was demon being two horns, glowing demon eyes and a tail. He was taller than Zoey but shorter than Angel, nonetheless he was really intimidating. Angel blinked.

“Hold on— ya seem pretty familiar.” The spider blurted out, he thought for a few moments, his eyes suddenly lighting up. “I remember! You were one of my clients for a while before, uh.. Collin, was it?” 

The demon rolled his eyes, “Oh, it’s you, I was hoping to not see you today but here we are.” Collin, Zoey assumed, grumbled. Angel snickered. 

“Aww how sweet, ya still pissed about that incident ya had at the bar?” The spider joked, making the other demon grow even more irritated, as this was going on Zoey was looking at him, as if she was in some sort of trance. 

“Shut the hell up, it was _your_ fault and you know it.” Collin gritted his teeth, he glanced at Zoey with a confused expression, but still glared. “And tell your friend here to watch where she stands nex time, could’ve gotten into some serious trouble.” 

Angel nudged Zoey in the ribs, she yelped, “Heh yeah I think she gets the hint, well we gotta dash, see ya around~” The spider demon pushed Zoey forward to get her moving, she started walking but she couldn’t help but look back. Collin was already walking away, though he also looked back and their eyes met, his eyes narrowed and he disappeared. Zoey’s mind was a little hazy, and this only happens when it seemed like she was about to get another forgotten memory, but it never came.

Only a strange sense of familiarity, leaving her curious and confused. Was he supposed to be someone she knew..? Or someone she was supposed to know..? 

Zoey wasn’t sure at the moment, her mind was too foggy and tired to process it, it’ll have to wait.

...

“Huh, I’m surprised you two didn’t get into any trouble.” 

Came the remark of Vaggie when Zoey and Angel returned, the hotel doors closed and the two came in with the groceries, Charlie seemed satisfied and nodded at them. “Thanks you two! Now Angel, I hope this taught you a lesson—“

“—To not be an annoying piece of shit and get into trouble, yeah thanks, Charlie as if I didn’t get that before.” The spider spat, putting all the groceries on the table, he crossed his arms. “This ain’t fair! I ain’t the only one who should be punished.” He glared at Vaggie, who matched him, scowling. Charlie sighed. 

“Your comments about the hotel weren’t necessary yesterday, Angel, plus it was for your own good. You also ruined all your progress.” She stated, looking at him. The spider gritted his teeth and just left, a door harshly closing a moment after, Zoey frowned. Charlie walked over to her and placed a hand on Zoey’s shoulder, “I hope he wasn’t any trouble.” She said worriedly.

Zoey shook her head, “No not really, I made sure of it, don’t worry.” She smiled softly, Charlie nodded and returned the smile. “Do you need me for anything else?”

“Oh it’s all fine for now, thank you though Zoey, you can decide what you want to do next. Me and Vaggie have to do some paperwork.” Zoey nodded and watched them go, she remained in the main lobby for a while before she thought of getting herself some sweets. Though that would mean going to the kitchen, where Alastor would probably be in, she gulped a little and decided to go later. Turning to the stairs she went to her room instead, she felt exhausted even if it hasn’t been very long, she sighed.

She sometimes takes naps when she could, but even then her nightmares would haunt her, she didn’t want anything more than to just sleep peacefully for once. Zoey reached her room, grabbing the doorknob and twisting it, she closed the door behind her. Her room was exactly like how she left it, quiet and fixed, the Roe deer sighed softly and went to her bathroom. 

She splashed some water onto her face, a mirror right in front of her. Zoey wiped her face with a towel and then stared at her reflection, she observed her gray horns, her light gray skin, her different colored eyes, the black splotch around the left one, then... 

“...Oh..”

Zoey carefully touched a spot beneath her eyes, her shoulders sagging a little at what she just noticed. Just under her eyes, were eyebags. Indications she hasn’t been sleeping well for so long, she wondered why they weren’t as dark as she thought but, she was kind of glad for it because the bags weren’t too noticeable. Nobody else should know about her nightmares, it’s better that way. She touched the mirror for a moment before leaving the bathroom, and she plopped down onto her bed, feeling the exhaustion but not sleeping.

_That Collin guy seemed so familiar.. am I just thinking too much into this? I’m not really sure at this point... whoever he is I’m not certain if I should know_ Zoey thought. Suddenly her door swung open and a squeal could be heard, the Roe deer sat up suddenly when a pink blur rushed into her room and onto her bed, Zoey blinked in confusion. It was a... pig? But with small horns, spots, spikes and a cute demon tail, it let out a snort.

“Awwwwww!” Zoey cooed, picking up the pig and nuzzling it, it oinked happily. She looked at it curiously, “Hey there little guy, where did you come from?” 

As if on cue she heard someone else’s voice call from te hallway, “Nugsy! ‘Ey, where’d ya go?” Angel hollered, he eventually came into view and peeked into Zoey’s room, “Hey, have you seen— _There_ ya are!” Relief could be heard in his tone as he went inside, Zoey handed him the cute pig who snorted happily at seeing his owner. Angel nuzzled him affectionately, “Ya ran off from me ya goofball.” 

“You have a pet pig?” Zoey asked in awe, she squished her cheeks and squealed, “He’s adorable! What’s his name?” She looked at him, petting the pig happily. Angel smiled a little.

“This is Fat Nuggets, had him for more than a year, he’s a real sweetheart but also a littlr troublemaker sometimes.” The spider glared playfully, Fat Nuggets just oinked. Zoey grinned. 

“Hey there Fat Nuggets, oh you’re such a cutie!” Zoey cooed, her tail wagging happily at the little pig, Angel put him down and he scurried around the room. The Roe deer chuckled, “He’s just adorable, Angel!”

The spider smiled proudly, “Ya got that right, he’s like a little ball o’ sunshine, always can brighten yer days.” Fat Nuggets jumps onto Zoey’s bed and rolls around in it, by now the Roe deer was squealing at the cuteness. 

“That’s great! Oh uh, by the way..” Zoey trailed off, the spider looked at her curiously, she fiddled her fingers awkwardly. “How are you? I mean.. after what Vaggie and—“

Angel cut her off, “I’m fine. I don’t know how many times I should tell ya.” His expression hardened a little, Zoey closed her mouth, she looked at him nervously. “This already happened so many times before, I’m used ta it by now.” He went to pick up Fat Nuggets, and was turning to leave the room, “Look whatever yer thinkin’ you should forget it, no one’s gonna understand anyway.” 

“Angel, I’m..” The door closed, Angel left without another word.


	8. Who Are You..?

It was like any other night. Zoey laid there, tired yet awake, under her blankets in the middle of the night. She truly despised her sleeping troubles and nightmares, and just wanted them to stop bothering her, but no, the Roe deer knew she wouldn’t get what she wanted. Sighing heavily, she turned to lay on her back, now looking up at the ceiling, the night wasn’t completely peaceful but it wasn’t as noisy as the mornings. Her ears twitched at the city sounds, trying to pay more attention to them rather than her exhaustion and bothersome thoughts. 

“...To think all this is because of my terrible memory..” Zoey mumbled, rubbing her eyes tiredly, to say she was just exhausted was quite the understatement. She was drained.. emotionally and mentally the most, the lack of sleep had already gotten to her not too long after she started getting her nightmares in the first place. Zoey couldn’t rest comfortably, or even go through a day without feeling sleepy, adding to that she would hallucinate every now and then.

Her own personal Hell if you’d like to describe it. 

Another thing crossed her mind. Her dreams weren’t entirely random, it took her a bit to realize that, all of her dreams seem to be about her past life, her human life. In all honesty, Zoey didn’t know why they were strangely specific dreams that come back every once in a while, the most reocurring one was... the day she died. Murdered by someone she doesn’t remember. 

Then, the rest were vague to her, one was with a few unknown figures that were looking at her with strange expressions on their face, angry or distraught, maybe even both. What was also confusing was that Zoey would always feel an almost painful tightness in her chest whenever she saw them, as if she was feeling a heavy emotion like guilt. The figures would then turn away from her then fade away, and she found herself crying a little after that. 

The rest of her dreams weren’t as clear to her, she was still trying to figure them out, with the last bits of sanity and clearness of mind she had left after living on barely enough sleep for this long.

Zoey wondered how she was still stable honestly. Others would have probably already lost their minds after just a few months of what she was going through, but here she was, struggling yet she kept herself together the best she could. Staying cheerful despite what she went through.. and keeping herself from getting worse..

_But for what reason..?_ The Roe deer thought, she didn’t really have anyone to do it for, at least.. that was until she met Violet. Her dearest and closest friend, her only friend if she wasn’t to include Charlie and the hotel residents, she wasn’t sure if she was supposed to consider Alastor, Husk or Angel friends honestly. She had conversations with Angel before but they didn’t really establish any friendship they might want to continue further.

Perhaps Violet was a reason she didn’t want to lose herself, which might mean losing her in the process too... when they started their friendship she had forgotten what it was like to have someone to talk to, to laugh with, and to spend time with in general. She was so much more different than the rest. 

Zoey let out another exhausted sigh. Another thought came to her, when she went out with Angel earlier, that demon they encountered, what was his name..? 

“..Collin..” Zoey whispered, as if studying the name carefully. The feeling she felt when she saw him, and the feeling she felt right now couldn’t be mistaken: he was supposed to be familiar to her. But the frustrating thing was that she had absolutely no idea as to who he was supposed to be, an old friend? Someone from her family? 

She tried remembering his features, blond hair, fair skin, two black horns, red eyes with yellow pupils, a pointed demon tail, and he wore an outfit that looked similar to what a mafia member would wear. Even after picturing him in her head Zoey couldn’t figure out anything. Was this the world’s way of mocking her? _Ugh... whoever he is I hope I find it out somehow, otherwise it’d keep me up like all my other thoughts and dreams.._

After maybe an hour of laying awake, Zoey was already fed up with everything. Curse her nightmares and memory loss for making her afterlife worse as if ending up in _Hell_ itself wasn’t enough. She grunted in frustration, she couldn’t sleep or even relax, so what was the point of doing anything during her restless nights like this?

Zoey was silent for a while, she was sitting on her bed now. A mixed expression of annoyance and exhaustion on her face. Then she made a decision.

“Screw it..” 

...

What was she doing? It wasn’t a bad thing though, right..? Zoey stood still for a few moments, unsure of what she had just decided to do, her surroundings were dark, only dimly lit in some places. She was at the hotel lobby, empty and quiet, around a little past midnight.

She looked behind herself, in case anyone was watching. No one was there.

What exactly was she planning? Well she can’t sleep as usual, or even relax, she thought of the only thing that she figured would help clear her head. Zoey was gonna head out. Actually, she was _sneaking_ out, because no one else knew where she was going or what she was gonna do, and she felt some guilt for it.

Especially towards Charlie, she’s been so nice to her, giving her a nice and comfortable place to stay, providing food and everything else as well. Her room was one of the best, it looked like she couldn’t sleep well in it and Zoey’s ears flattened sadly. “I-I’m sorry Charlie..” She murmured quietly, “None of this is your fault, I just don’t want anyone else to get involved with my problems, so I’m dealing with them on my own...”

It’s always been like that, Zoey would keep her problems to herself, no matter how much they’re damaging her and how obvious it was that she needed help. This was never anyone else’s issues to worry about, just her...

With one final guilty glance back at the lobby she quietly opened the main door, and went out into the city, the sky was a dark shade of red, and the streets were still busy and packed. Zoey felt herself turn uneasy again, demons had already started to look at her, she kept her eyes forward. Where exactly was she going? She had no idea, anywhere that’s enough to help her relax a bit, she’ll go back to the hotel eventually before anyone finds out she snuck out.

Zoey shook her head, trying to clear hee thoughts, she should make this little trip around the city not for nothing. She had to come up with a place to go to, a cafe maybe..? That sounded good enough, Zoey was surprised when she found a few deceng ones during her time down here, she thought Hell wouldn’t really care to have relaxing places like cafes. The Roe deer smiled a little, it seemed like the best choice.

She didn’t realize how much she desperately needed and craved sugary sweets as well, it made her walk faster.

As usual there were demons eyeing her as she walked, some with evil intent as well, she was an easy target for them. One such demon was a wolf, he narrowed his eyes at the Roe deer who paid no mind to him or his fellow companions as she passed the alleyway they were in. The wolf chuckled, “Aw, look at her, as weak lookin’ as she should be. Ya guys thinkin’ what I’m thinkin?”

One of his companions were a snake demon, a black colored cobra, he grinned and nodded. “It looks like it. I’m sure boss would be pleased to see us bring in another pathetic demon for him, even if we weren’t really asked to target her.”

The wolf stood up, grinning as well. “I’m sure he will. Come on then boys, we got ourselves a deer to hunt..”

...

 _Something’s wrong... I know it_ Zoey thought uneasily, she was already near a cafe she knew about, but ever since a few minutes ago she felt more uneasy than she was just moments ago. She felt watched. And maybe even... followed. Her ears twitched, she tried to look around for anyone, but she couldn’t seem to find any suspicious demons. The Roe deer gulped a little, there was still one more alley she had to pass by.

She wasn’t safe.

“Gotcha!”

Zoey was late to respond when she was suddenly kicked into the alley, she let out a loud yelp and rolled on the ground before hitting a dumpster, she groaned in pain. Zoey heard laughter not too far from where she was, anger surged through her being, she opened her eyes and glared at the group of demons that dared to mess with her. The biggest and strongest being a wolf demon, who was taller than her and had a weapon on him.

The Roe deer’s eyes widened. It was a gun.

The wolf sneered. “Well, well, well, look what we have here. Poor little deer, ya seem surprised, what ya didn’t get ambushed before yet?”

The group laughed, Zoey gritted her teeth and tried to get up, but her body really hurt. She caught herself before she fell over, panting a little, her ears pointed back in anger as she looked at them. “You have some nerve, don’t you?”

“Feisty, are we?” A cobra demon hissed mockingly, “Unlikely for prey like you, you seem more valuable than we thought.”

Zoey stood as steadily as she could, narrowing her eyes, her hands glowed faintly along with them, “You’re making a mistake, I’ll let you live your worthless lives of suffering down here if you leave me _alone_.” Suddenly, the wolf was near her face, teeth bared and eyes narrowed, Zoey flinched, she glared back.

“Just who do you think you are, _doe_? You ain’t anythin’ special, and ya can’t tell us what to do.” Zoey stepped back when the wolf took a step forward, a hand grazing the gun, her eyes displayed some fear. The cobra demon and the rest of the wolf’s companions started to grow closer as well, “You see, we’re part of a special... _business_ , I’ll leave it at that. And if we don’t get any demons back for our boss, let’s just say we’ll be in the same place as _you_ are right now.”

Zoey looked behind her, a dead end.

“Helpless.. pathetic, and with no chance of escape.” The wolf growled threatheningly, this time he was pulling the gun out, the rest followed with their own weapons. “Our boss ain’t nice at all, he doesn’t like giving any chances if he doesn’t think anyone deserves it.”

She felt herself come in contact with the wall, Zoey gulped but tried to hide her fear, she narrowed her eyes at them. She can defend herself, she has her magic! But... looking again she realized she was surrounded, and the demon with the gun could take her down just like that...

Zoey had no escape.

The wolf grinned, and pointed the gun at her, her eyes widened, she started to shake in her fear. Something like this happened before, but she was able to escape, now...? She didn’t.

Tears threathened to fall, and she whimpered internally. _I-I’m so sorry Charlie..._ She closed her eyes, bracing for the worst.

“What the _hell_ is going on here?”

 _...What?_ Zoey reopened her eyes she didn’t realize she closed for a moment, the wolf demon’s own pair of eyes widened and he turned around. The group of demons spread out to make a path clear for the one who just spoke, a tall silhouette stood at the entry of the alley, it stepped closer and Zoey sensed fear between the demons who almost killed her.

“A-Ah—! S-Sir! What are you—?” The wolf tried to say when he was suddenly shoved into the wall, Zoey flinched in surprise, the wolf stared fearfully at... wait.. the Roe deer could see some of his features, it was...

“..C-Collin?” Her voice came out as a whisper almost, but it was heard nonethless, Collin perked up and turned to look at her, his expression was mostly blank, though it could be seen that he was kind of surprised. The demons looked at her in shock, Collin let go of the wolf demon and walked to her. Zoey gulped, he was intimidating and quite scary.

“It’s you.” He muttered after a while, “You were the girl with Angel earlier, what the hell are you doing here with my goons?”

Zoey stuttered, “I-I wasn’t doing anything! I was just walking by and— AH!” She was grabbed around the neck by the cobra demon, who pointed a knife at her, she whimpered and froze.

The cobra hissed, “Sir, we were gonna give her to you when we were done! We had nothing to do for the whole night and no one to target! It was just us doing our job!”

Collin looked at the cobra blankly, then to Zoey, she looked at him, pleading. He stepped closer to them, she hid her face away, expecting him to let the snake hurt her.

But it never came, instead she felt Collin grab her and pulled her away from the snake, who growled in protest.

“H-Huh?” Zoey looked at Collin in confusion, he didn’t look at her, just at the snake and the rest, with a menacing look.

“Did I tell you to target anyone tonight? _No_ , I didn’t, I thought I made it clear we were gonna keep a low profile tonight, and the days after. You disobeyed me.” Collin said in a vicious tone, eyeing them all, the wolf looked nervous and ashamed, Collin pointed at him. “Especially you, Xander, you’re the leader while I’m gone, was it your idea to target her?” He pointed to Zoey next, who cowered slighly at the menacing glares she recieved.

The wolf, Xander, gulped. “Y-Yes sir but—“

“You’ve disappointed me. All of you.” Collin growled, his eyes seemed to glow faintly, and threatheningly. The demons looked away, ashamed. He sighed in frustration, then looked at the Roe deer, who looked back at him nervously. “You’re not completely out of this either, it’s too late to change the fact that you’rs aware of us now.”

“W-What—?”

Collin towered over her, looking at her viciously, she whimpered and took a step back. Was he gonna kill her?! 

“You’re not gonna tell this to _anyone_ , you hear me? This never happened, you never encountered me, or my companions.” He said in a low, threatheningly deep voice, “This never happened. And since I have an idea of who you’re associated with, I can find you if you break your word. You understand?” 

Zoey nodded quickly. Collin nodded once, then turned away to his group, “Let’s go everyone. We’ve made enough of an impression to someone already.” The group of demons begrudingly followed, but not without glaring one more time at Zoey, and after a few moments, they were gone. Zoey stood there for a while, before her legs started working on their own and she found herself walking away and back to the direction she came from. 

She decided to forget going to that cafe.

She just wanted to go back to bed.


	9. Tension, Curiosity and Fond Memories

“...What just happened?”

Was the question that was repeating in Zoey’s head over and over, she was heading back for the hotel, at almost 2 AM, she may be walking in the right dorection but she was feeling lost. All she could think about was what happened earlier, how she was ambushed by several threathening demons who nearly killed her, then how she was saved by Collin, sort of... They seemed to be a part of something but would rather keep it secret, and since Zoey was aware of it she was asked—no— _ordered_ to keep her mouth shut.

Zoey wasn’t sure of all that they’re capable of, but she didn’t want to get anymore involved with them.

She let out a sigh, her shoulders sagging, she felt even more exhausted than earlier. Her eyelids started to droop but she shook herself awake, she still wasn’t at the hotel, falling asleep out in the open could mean her downfall. Sleep sounded really good right now...

But.. her nightmares.. at moments like this her ability to care seemed to vanish, she continued to walk despite her exhausted state. The Roe deer was used to this, used to being so tired she could fall asleep at any second, but would still stay awake for until the day was over. It wasn’t healthy at all, no, being constantly sleep deprived can do serious things to someone and it eventually started to take a toll on her. For some reason it wasn’t as worse as she expected it to be..

It seemed like a very long journey when she finally reached the hotel again, her eyes were half-lidded and she was walking at a sluggish pace, she was gonna collapse at this point. Her hand slowly touched the doorknob and she twisted it, luckily it wasn’t locked, she closed the door behind her and breathed out a sigh of relief. The hotel was as quiet as it was when she was leaving, and the lobby was still empty.

Zoey yawned heavily, oh god she really did need to sleep, she tried to start walking to her room, the exhaustion slowly creeping in.. The room wasn’t too far away... just.. a little more...

After a while she collapsed.

The first rays of morning slowly illuminated the hotel’s rooms through the windows, demons are starting their daily activities and almost the whole city eventually was awake, the usual chaos of Hell already began for the day. It was still fairly early, around 6 AM, most of the hotel’s residents were still asleep but one in particular was always an early riser.

Alastor hummed to himself as he fixed his bowtie in front of a mirror, he patted his hair down to look presentable and he fixed his red dress coat, his signature smile on his face as he looked at himself. “Ah! There we go, it seems like a lovely day so far, now I must start my morning routine.”

The Radio Demon strolled out of his room after closing the door behind him, his hands neatly folded behind his back as he walked heading to the lobby, still humming a tune. He was the one mostly in charge of making breakfast for everyone but he didn’t mind, he enjoyed cooking and waking up early. As he was thinking of what to cook something seemed off about the lobby, he stopped in his tracks and looked around the room.

“Everything seems in order.”

Alastor said to himself, a little confused, he shrugged and started to head for the kitchen, but as he passed by one of the couches he stopped again once he spotted something in the corner of his eye that.. really wasn’t supposed to be there. He turned to look and see...

__What the blazes...? __Alastor thought in confusion. There, fast asleep and snoring lightly on the couch, was Zoey. She was laying on her side, seeming to be in a deep sleep, but she wasn’t supposed to be on this couch. Right? Alastor bent over just enough to be near her face, “Zoey dear? Are you awake?”

No answer, the doe just remained asleep, not moving from her position.

“Dear, I believe you should wake up, you are not supposed to be sleeping _here_.” Alastor spoke again, but in a louder voice. Zoey was still asleep, she shifted slightly but she wasn’t waking up, Alastor leaned away and his smile tightened. He didn’t like being ignored. He tilted his head at her, and then seemed to notice something, it was as if he could sense a heavy feeling from her, it felt like exhaustion and.. something else

_What could be troubling you, my dear?_ He thought, his grin widening with his curiosity. _And why are you sleeping here when you have a room?_

Zoey stirred, turning over to her other side so her back was facing Alastor, that’s when he perked up once he saw a peak of the dirt patches at the back of her long sleeved top, behind her brown fluffy hair that was reaching down until below her back. And a few small scratches. That was definitely peculiar.

He wondered what happened to her, it seemed to slowly dawn on him and his grin turned into a creepy one. Alastor let out a low hum of static, before he tilted his head down at Zoey. He bent down again, a malicious smile on his face.

And with a loud, slightly threathening voice he spoke, “Wake up darling!”

That seemed to wake her up nearly instantly as Zoey’s eyes suddenly opened wide and she yelped, suddenly moving and hitting her head against one of the couch’s arm rests, quite hard.

“Ow—!” Zoey grunted and clutched her head, groaning, “Ow, ow, ow..”

Alastor then bursted into laughter, causing Zoey to freeze, and slowly looked up at him, her expression of confusion turned into one of sheer annoyance. He continued to laugh for a good while before finally calming down, grinning widely. “Good morning my dear! Did you sleep well?”

“Shut up. What are you doing here?” Zoey gritted her teeth, she slowly sat up, wincing while clutching her head, and because of how her body seemed to hurt. Alastor’s eyes became half lidded and he mockingly looker at hee as if that was a stupid question.

“I should be the one asking you that very question, Zoey dear. Don’t you have your own room?” Alastor said in a low voice, Zoey tensed when he leaned closer, she leaned away from him in response, her ears pointing backwards in her irritation.

But deep down she was scared that he would find it what she was up to just a few hours ago, and out of all the people it just _had_ to be _Alastor_ to be suspicious of her. Her morning was already screwed. 

“I don’t see how this is any of your business, Alastor.” Zoey replied in a calm yet sharp tone, glaring at him. This made Alastor’s eyes narrow. “If you’ll excuse me I’m gonna start my morning—“

“You seem to have went somewhere.” Alastor drawled, he gestured to her back. “You have dirt patches on your outfit, dear, and you were fast asleep here. Now doesn’t that seem suspicious if you were me?”

Zoey tensed even more, a bead of sweat on her forehead, she was not only intimidated by Alastor but, she hated to admit it, she was terrified. He seemed to have already figured it out, was she that obvious? “I..” She mumbled, she shook her head, “It’s still none of your business, if you wanna keep annoying me I might burn your face off—“

Wrong words.

Alastor chuckled darkly, the sounds of static becoming louder. “Ohohoho, dear...” He laughed, he closed his eyes for a moment, and when he reopened them his pupils seem to have disappeared and his eyes were pure red. “ _You’ll be dead before you can even lay a finger on me._ ” 

Zoey started to shake, her ears flattened and she stared fearfully at him, Alastor grinned widely, pleased to see this reaction from her. His menacing grin was stretched from ear to ear. _I-I can’t get back at him without possibly dying_ Zoey thought in fear, as much as she hated it she admitted her defeat and looked away. Satisfied, Alastor leaned back and straightened himself.

“Well, my dear, I must say it really isn’t my business. Who knows you might’ve just tripped somewhere! Haha!” Alastor mused, fixing his bowtie. “I best be off to make breakfast. Wouldn’t want anyone knowing anything of what you could be hiding, now do we?” He spoke in a low voice, it wasn’t a question and more of a threat. He didn’t wait for her to answer and just patted her head, Zoey flinched away with a glare. “Have a good day my dear! Breakfast will be done shortly.”

Alastor leaves with his hands behind his back, humming and then disappearing into the kitchen. Zoey remained seated there, still trembling, she placed a hand on her chest feeling the almost painful thumping of her heart against it. Alastor really seemed to put her on edge as long as she’s in his presence, but despite that she truly disliked him.

“What a jerk...”

She muttered under her breath, she let out a yawn, oh boy she was still tired, very tired. She needed sweets, lots of it, to keep herself active and from collapsing somewhere again. This has happened a few times before. Rubbing her eyes, Zoey slowly gets up, trying to ignore how tired her body was and sluggishly walked to her room, and this time she managed to get there. Opening her door she blinked in surprise, Niffty was there cleaning away, fixing her bed, wiping the floor and even organizing things.

“Hm?” The little cyclops turned around, her eye brightened once she saw Zoey, “Hello Zoey! Good morning!” Zoey grinned and was tackled in a hug, she chuckled and hugged Niffty back.

“Good morning Niffty! Thanks for cleaning my room.” She smiled. Niffty smiled back, nodded and went back to cleaning, the Roe deer stepped into her room and was very surprised at how great it looked, “Wow, you clean so well!”

Niffty giggled, dusting off a table in her room, “Thank you! I was gonna ask you first but you were already gone from your room, I figured you were already up and I wanted to make sure it was nice and tidy when you get back.” She said sweetly, Zoey smiled warmly and nodded.

“Thank you I really appreciate it.” Zoey said softly, smiling despite her exhaustion. Suddenly Niffty was cleaning near her nightstand, carefully dusting it, being mindful of what was on it, she then gasped when her eye landed on her picture frame. Her ears perked up and she walked over to Niffty, who was looking at it with curiosity and cheerfulness.

“Oooh! Awww Zoey this is such a nice picture!” Niffty cooed, she looked at her, “You both look so beautiful! Who’s this by the way?” She gave her the picture frame, Zoey felt herself smile fondly, caressing the glass of the frame gently.

“Oh it’s my dearest friend, Violet, I took this picture of us a few months ago. She’s such a sweetheart and I really appreciate her.” Zoey said softly, Niffty smiled.

“She sounds like such a great friend!” The cyclops exclaimed, hugging Zoey’s arm, “Oooh! Can you tell me how you two met? Can you? Can you?” She asked excitedly, running around in energetic circles. Zoey chuckled and placed the picture back on the nightstand, standing up and stretching.

“I can tell you the short version.” Zoey smiled, Niffty nodded happily. Slowly her mind was showing flashbacks of the times from almost two years ago, when she was just starting to get her memory issues and when she was fairly new to Hell. But she focused on the fonder memories, ones with a certain caribou demon.

“I met Violet at a cafe, I was still just here for about a week or so and I sometimes feel lost. I stumbled upon the cafe she worked at and felt drawn to it, I entered the cafe and the delicious smell of sweets and the welcoming atmosphere made me stick around longer than I thought I would. Then I met her there, she was the kindest person I’ve ever met that time, she still is.” Zoey murmured, “Since then I’ve been visiting more after we talked for the first time, and it ended up into a friendship.”

“Awwww...” Niffty said, smiling sweetly, “She must be very important to you then! Demons like that, or people in general, are hard to find, not everyone’s nice.” She seemed to sadden for a moment, “Charlie’s the nicest I’ve ever met, Alastor is.. a close second I think?”

Zoey couldn’t hide her surprise. “You see Alastor as ?” She blurted out, the cyclops looked at her in confusion for a moment before nodding.

“I know he could be.. well, his usual self, if you know what I mean. Very cryptic and intimidating, sometimes even sees killing people is fun—“ She mumbled under her breath, “—but I promise he can be real nice! I would know because I’ve worked for him for a few decades.”

Zoey couldn’t really believe it, that deer demon, the Radio Demon, _nice_? Niffty noticed her expression and looked at her with concern.

“I know it’s hard to believe, but I’m telling the truth, it’s just hard for him to show how nice he can be, and he’s... terrible at understanding other’s emotions.” She winced.

“I’m sorry Niffty I just...” Zoey apologized, sighing, “He just intimidates and scares me, it’s not you I don’t believe it’s just the part where Alastor is said to be nice..”

She seemed to understand, and just nodded sympathetically, “It’s okay. Maybe one day he’ll show it.”

Maybe. But Zoey didn’t see any chances of that happening. She was suddenly reminded of her sleep deprived state and she yawned, rubbing her eyes, Niffty noticed. 

“Are you okay? You seem really tired...” She asked worriedly, placing a small hand on her arm, Zoey nodded tiredly.

“I’m okay.. I just need a bit more sleep, that’s all, do you mind telling the others I might skip breakfast?” Zoey asked, the cyclops looked even more worried but nodded, she got a pat in the head by the Roe deer who smiled. “Thank you, I’ll be up later again once I’m rested.”

“Okay.. rest well, Zoey.” Niffty murmured, picking up her cleaning products and tools before closing the door and leaving, Zoey collapses again on her bed, oh she was definitely gonna be sleeping for more than a few hours, the bed was so comfortable and welcoming...

She slowly drifted off to a another dreamless sleep.


	10. A Dream Of A City

_Where am I..?_

__

_Is what Zoey asked herself when she was just staring at a black void for a while, she had fallen asleep almost instantly after her conversation with Niffty, she really was exhausted. Truthfully she was expecting another nightmare, but... instead she’s just in an endless void with nothing but herself._

__

_Her ears twitched, trying to pick up any sounds of anything, there wasn’t anything else, just her. Zoey sighed, honestly if she was gonna be staying here until she wakes up she’d rather just open her eyes again, but her body was too tired to do that just yet. She didn’t like how this place made her feel, she just felt... empty, alone, and lost, and as if she never existed..._

__

_“Hello..?” The Roe deer called out, her voice echoed a little, silence. “Is anyone else here..?” She feared that the nightmare creature could be secretly hiding somewhere, just waiting to strike when she least expected it, she tensed._

__

_Until, her pitch black surroundings started to fade into something different, slowly but surely the black void was changing, and Zoey felt some relief, but then she grew uneasy again. Was this turning into one of her nightmares?_

_Zoey whimpered a little, she didn’t want another nightmare, she wanted them all to stop, she was already suffering being considered weak and helpless by sinners..._

_Though after the black void cleared, it seemed that she was wrong, this.. wasn’t going to be a nightmare, not for now, at least... this only happens on a few ocassions. Zoey’s ears perked up once she took notice of her surroundings, it wasn’t the dark, eerie forest of her nightmare, instead..._

__

A city...? _She thought, it was also around evening for this dream, except the bright lights of the buildings, lamp posts, and vehicles sometimes passing by reassured her that she wasn’t having a nightmare. It wasn’t a very modern looking city either, in fact it looked like it was from another decade, people’s fashion were different, even the cars looked different._

_Since it was all some sort of illusion, whenever there was someone who walked by her she wouldn’t be noticed at all, if they do walk in front of her she would be passed through as if she wasn’t there. Zoey turned around, something urged her too, a strange feeling..._

_“Huh..?” The Roe deer murmured in confusion, eyeing the building that first came into her sight when she turned around, she’s seen a lot of these in Hell, but she never went to one. It was a bar.. brightly lit and the smell of alcohol reached her nose still even if it was just a dream, her face scrunched in distaste. “Eugh...” She muttered, she turned to leave but stopped in her tracks when it seemed like her body was urging her to move towards it._

_Zoey grumbled, guess she didn’t really have full control of this dream either, she could still do things like talk, and walk around but she has no full control of her subconsciousness. The stronger the smell of alcohol reached her nose the more she just desired to leave, her arms were crossed as she begrudingly walked toward the bar. What exactly was this dream showing her?_

_Zoey then suddenly stopped, her eyes widening slightly, she was just at the entrance. The bar was more spacious than she thought, but that wasn’t what caused her to freeze, it was something else, or rather... someone.. The Roe deer looked at a specific individual who was alone at the counter, looking... quite distraught and stressed, it seemed like an understatement really because the person looked like a mess..._

_That was a little rude perhaps... Zoey winced at this, but she couldn’t help it, after shaking her head she tried to walk closer to the person, she felt like they were the reason why she had to go here, she was a few feet away and Zoey observed how she looked. She was a little shocked when it was like her vision had blurred quite a bit, she couldn’t observe the woman’s face properly, though the expression of anguish and stress was clear._

_“W-Wh... w-why is she so stressed..?” Zoey murmured to herself, the woman placed her face in her hands and sighed heavily, and shakily. Her hair was a very light brown color, but it was quite messy, a sign of distress. Her ears perked up when someone came out from a door in the back of the bar, it was an older man, perhaps in his 40’s, he walked back over to the counter and placed a few new bottles of wine, beer and other kinds of alcohol. The man then took notice of the woman, who hasn’t said a word or moved much._

_“What’s yer problem?” The man grumbled, “Not that I care, but this ain’t exactly a place where you just stay around spreadin’ negative energy for nothin’.” He crossed his arms, the woman still didn’t move, she was trembling slightly. Zoey frowned, what was wrong..?_

_Then, she heard something else, Zoey turned her head when she heard some radio static. Her eyes widened, her heart pounding. W-What was this? Was.. was it Alastor appearing in her dream somehow? The Roe deer shook slightly and feared the worst. But luckily he wasn’t here, she sighed in relief when it was just a normal radio she saw. Then again, it still reminded her of that evil, sadistic Radio Demon._

_The man noticed it too and rolled his eyes, not seeming interested as to what was about to come on, he turned and started wiping a few glasses with a cloth. Zoey then saw the distressed woman move, her head was raised from her hands and she was looking at the radio. The static continued for a little while until finally a voice speaks up. Must be an evening broadcast..._

**”..Until now, the fires are still raging, and has started to spread. Some are reported to have gotten injured, others have been sent to the hospital, while... it’s very unfortunate, but some have even lost their lives... the people who caused the fire haven’t been caught yet but the situation is beng handled. We mourn for those who have lost loved ones from this tragedy..”**

_Zoey felt her chest tighten with sadness, that sounded terrible... even if it was a dream. Then, her ears perked up when she heard something else. Something that saddened her even more... she heard the woman crying, when she turned to look she was right. Before the broadcast she already seemed to be on the brink of tears, and now.. she just broke down right then and there, the man at the counter noticed as well and looked at her. Seeming a little annoyed._

_Then, after a while the woman tried to compose herself, wiping her tired and bloodshot eyes, and combing her hair a little to fix it. She suddenly seemed like she knew why she came here in the first place, she looked at the man, who raised an eyebrow._

__

_“Are ya finally gonna tell me why you’re—“_

_“I-I need a distraction.”_

_..._

Zoey woke up, but not as sudden and in a panic when she has a nightmare, her eyes just shot open. She wasn’t sure how long she slept, she was still in her room, laying on her side. She felt really strange... it must’ve been the dream, whatever it showed her she didn’t know why, and she had so many questions, like... why be a dream where she was in a city? And.. who was that woman?

Zoey grumbled while slowly sitting up, the nap didn’t really help, she was still tired.. Rubbing her eyes, she glanced at a nearby clock, and she was right, she had missed breakfast and it was now a bit past lunch. Great... what was she gonna tell the others? If she told them she was exhausted they may get suspicious... if she doesn’t tell anything they’ll get even more curious. _And Alastor has an idea of what I might’ve gotten into... he could expose me.. dang it_ Zoey groaned, facepalming, she questioned her decision to go out last night in the first place. Begrudgingly, she got up, going to the bathroom to change her clothes and freshen herself, once she was done she closed the door to her room. Walking to the lobby, she saw everyone else was already there, oh boy... 

Just how was she going to explain?

“Zoey! There you are!” Charlie exclaimed, running to and hugging her, the Roe deer chuckled and returned the hug. “You weren’t here for breakfast. Is everything alright?” She asked, looking at her with concern.

“I’m really sorry Charlie.. everything’s alright, no worries.”

_Lies, it was never alright_

“I’m glad to head that, are you hungry? We still have some food on the table.” The princess told her, offering a kind smile, she really was too kind for Hell. Zoey’s stomach grumbled, reminding her of how hungry she really was, she grinned sheepishly and nodded.

“Thanks, and yeah I’m pretty hungry, I’ll be in the dining room if you need me.” Charlie nodded, Zoey turned and headed for the table, delicious scents of food wafted in the air and her stomach grumbled again, she went to get herself a plate with utensils. After that she walked to the table where all the food was, bacon, eggs, and other delicious looking dishes. She sat down and began eating, she usually doesn’t eat very fast but she was just starving right now. 

And the food was _amazing_.

“Ah! Enjoying the food, dear?”

Too bad the chef isn’t.

Zoey visibly became annoyed at hearing Alastor’s voice, her ears twitched, and her eyes went half lidded as she ate. She ignored him and his presence, just focusing on eating. At least trying to, this annoying demon was making it difficult. Alastor hovered over her shoulder, with the same stupid grin on his face. 

“What do you want?” She snapped irritably.

“Enjoying the food, I see.” Alastor mused, ignoring her question and smiling wider, Zoey rolled her eyes. What a conceited demon. He remained standing behind her, to Zoey he didn’t really seem to know what personal space was, standing too close for comfort. She drank some water, it was silent for a while.

“So tell me, Zoey dear! What has suddenly stopped you from having breakfast with us this morning, hmm?”

Zoey placed her glass down on the table harder than she thought, her grip on it threathing to shatter it to pieces due to her irritation. She inhaled deeply and shut her eyes. Barely keeping in her anger towards Alastor.

“Can’t you just _leave me alone_?” Zoey snarled, this made the deer demon’s eyes close halfway as he looked down at her, his eyes glowing.

“Ha! No.” Alastor laughed, the Roe deer was so close to smacking him in the face, her fist clenched. “Why, I just merely want to talk to you! Is there any problem with that?”

“Yes. Yes there is.” Zoey deadpanned with no emotion whatsoever, her ears flattened to display her irritation and displeasure of being in the same room with him. Alastor gasped dramatically and feigned hurt.

“Why, that hurt dear!” He said in a dramatic tone, “My, aren’t you just a little under the weather this afternoon.” Zoey’s eyes widened in shock when Alastor suddenly raised her chin to make her look at him, his gaze was intimidating along with his wide smile to accompany it. “ _Smile my dear!_ You know you’re never fully dressed without one!”

Zoey jerked her head away and gritted her teeth, oh she was about done with him for today. “Listen here, _Alastor_.” He raised an eyebrow, a smug smile on his face, seeming unfazed by her anger. “If you didn’t get the hint I want you to leave me the hell alone for once, and not be invading my personal space and asking to smile for someone like _you_.” She spat venomously, pointing at him.

“Because I’ll never smile for you.” Zoey seethed. Hums of static could be heard and Alastor’s eyes glowed brighter as his smile tightened, he let out a low chuckle, void of any humor.

“Ohoho.. my, my, you have quite the courage to stand up to an Overlord like that, or...” His voice grew menacingly low as he bent down to her face, Zoey tried not to flinch and glared right at him, her fists clenched. His smile stretched from ear to war, “Or perhaps it’s _foolishness_? I am certain you are aware of who I am, the infamous, feared Radio Demon.. who has killed thousands of souls... and _enjoyed_ it.” Alastor said viciously, Zoey’s heart pounded against her chest, his look could actually kill. 

Zoey remained silent.

“Vaggie has told you about me.” Alastor stated, Zoey’s eyes widen slightly, how did he..? “To be frank, she was not the least bit subtle about it.” He laughed. Zoey just wanted to leave. “How.. absolutely pitiful, does the dear think it can stop me from doing anything to you?” Alastor’s head tilted to the right slowly, the static growing louder, and the air seemed to thicken with the tension.

“You wouldn’t dare.” Zoey whispered in a tense voice, “They would know and not let you step foot in this hotel ever again.” She narrowed her eyes at him, under her facade she was terrified, nervous, and uneasy. She was face to face with a vicious, powerful and sadistic Overlord who can kill her in an instant, and here she was, provoking him like he wasn’t anyone to fear. “..You’ll lose whatever privileges you have here, and one of the only sources for your entertainment.”

Even she was suspicious of why he chose to help.

Alastor stared at her, his narrowed eyes glowing bright red, his hands were neatly folded behind his back as he stood to his full height, towering over her. He let out another laugh, shaking his head slowly.

“Are you provoking me on purpose, my dear?” Alastor hissed, “Are you setting yourself up for a second death?”

“I-I..” Zoey faltered nervously, flinching, she stepped away from him. His demon form threathened to come out, disturbing sounds of static coming from him, his eyes were pure red and full of malicious intent. Her back hit the edge of the table and she gulped a little.

“Know who you truly are and where you stand, darling.” Alastor spoke menacingly, “Talking back and feigning courage can only take you so far. You are absolutely _lucky_ I have restraint, and frankly, some _pity_ for your poor soul for believing you can challenge me like that without any consquences.”

And with those final words Alastor disappeared in a cloud of black smoke.

“...”

Perhaps Zoey could’ve just kept her words to herself...


	11. Reminiscing and Another Argument

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ! TW//Death, murder !

_I really am stupid, huh..?_

Zoey thought, still sitting at the table, her remaining food was left untouched after what had just happened, her mind and heartbeat were racing. She felt a little out of breath, she shakily placed a hand in her chest realizing how unnerved she was. As she probably should be, because Alastor looked like he was going to kill her just moments ago.

And why didn’t he? She wasn’t entirely sure, but she was ao grateful for it, it felt like she was facing death and only _barely_ escaped it. Zoey exhaled, her chest hurt from her pounding heart, she shakily stood up and put away her dishes, then left the kitchen quickly. No way was she going to stay there, not when it reminded her of how she almost pushed Alastor to the very edge of his patience. 

Zoey walked through the hallway, trying to find something to do to get her mind off what happened, her thoughts weren’t leaving her alone either as she reminisced the dream she had just earlier. The dream of her being in a city... and seeing that woman, who strangely had an effect on her.. She hasn’t had this dream before, and just like the others, they were still vague and unknown to her.

Will she ever get her memories back or at least understand all these dreams...?

She just didn’t know. She’ll be stuck like this for most likely eternity, and there was nothing she could do about it...

Her feet seemed to have a mind of their own as she was lost in thought, she suddenly found herself in front of... Angel’s room? Confused, she rubbed her eyes, then perked her ears. No sound was on the other side, she was gonna reach for the doorknob but stopped. This was going to be really awkward if Angel was inside, and just sees her at his door. But.. she sort of liked his company, no matter how brutally honest he can be and how much of a pain in the nerves he is sometimes.

“Angel?” Zoey called, knocking on the door, more silence. She knocked a few times again, but no reply whatsoever. Carefully, and awkwardly, she tried opening the door, it was surprisingly open. And her suspicions were right, he wasn’t there, and Fat Nuggets was fast asleep in his bed in a corner. Zoey closed back the door quietly, she was quite curious as to where the spider was, then decided to just leave him be. 

The hotel was fairly quiet, Zoey was sure everyone else was here somewhere though, she didn’t want to bother them too much. Especially Alastor. She was going to keep away from him as much as possible, while that seemed almost impossible because they’re in the same place nearly everyday she was still gonna do it. Zoey hated him..

_”Know who you truly are and where you stand, darling.” Alastor spoke menacingly, “Talking back and feigning courage can only take you so far. You are absolutely lucky I have restraint, and frankly, some pity for your poor soul for believing you can challenge me like that without any consquences.”_

She really did.

Her mind wandered off, and she slowly began to reminisce farther back into the past, nearly two years ago, when she first arrives in Hell. Not the fondest of her memories at all but she needed to think of something else other than the near death experience she just had...

...

_Cold..._

_She was starting to feel so cold... as if the warmth from her body was slowly leaving her, her breathing began to slow down, along with the beating of her heart. She just laid there, barely moving, the night was silent. Surrounded by nature with no one else around... Zoey truly felt alone, she tried to move, at least her hands, but she couldn’t, she felt so incredibly weak..._

_“N-Ngh...” She attempted to get up, but to no avail, it felt like it was going to take a huge effort... she stared up at the starless night sky, her eye halflidded, the other... was... gone.. the left side of her face was a mess of what it used to be, covered in blood and a stab wound, and was still bleeding. Her left eye was damaged beyond repair, and she was now permanently blind in her left side..._

_A pool of her blood was at her side, she couldn’t tend to her wounds, and nobody was around to help her... they were the main causes of her fatigue and weakness. How long had she been laying here? And... what just... happened... no, it was impossible to forget. It had just happened._

_She was murdered._

_Why wasn’t she just finished off? Zoey didn’t know, that didn’t really matter anymore but she just didn’t want to slowly suffer like this. Alone, bleeding to death, knowing she’s lost her vision on her left side, and feeling like she was about to leave the world at any moment. Her chest rose and fell very weakly now, and her breathing was slowing down more, she struggled to even keep her eye open._

_She actually feared death when she wasn’t at this point of her life yet.. she wanted to live a long, happy life before her time arrives..._

_But no. She was denied that. And her life was far from happy before things started to downspiral into even more chaos, and what did she do before it got to this point? Zoey lost all hope of trying to make it better, and just gave up, but why was it that right now she was beginning to regret everything...?_

_With the last bits of her energy, she let out a sound that resembled a laugh, however it was humorless, lifeless... She was stupid, so stupid to have made such terrible decisions, and wasting her life away... now, she couldn’t turn anything back. This was where she is now, and there was nothing she could do._

_“...I-I.. really was... stupid.. huh..?” She managed to choke out, her eye became watery and a tear escaped, a small pathetic smile on her face. Her life began to flash before her in her mind with the last few seconds of consciousness she had, she took one last glance up at the sky, her eye slowly closing._

_“...I... I-I’m sorry...”_

_Then she was gone..._

_..._

_That was, until she suddenly felt like she was... falling..? From what seemed to be a particularly high place, everything was dark, she couldn’t see a thing, she tried to scream but no words or sounds came out. This went on for what felt like forever until... it all stopped._

_Where was she? What just happened?_

_Zoey tried to move, and surprisingly, she was able to, slowly at first but she could feel her arms again. Her fingers twitched, and this time, she attempted to open her eyes, and to her surprise, it worked. Zoey winced at the sudden brightness, closing her eyes again and then rubbing them, she let out a gasp._

_The left side of her face wasn’t covered in blood, nor did she feel a deep stab wound, she reopened her eyes and was speechless. Her vision was... back to normal? She could see clearly with both eyes, as if nothing happened. She moved to sit up, she felt a little tired but otherwise fine.. Zoey groaned, rubbing her head._

_“Agh... w-wh..” She stuttered, trying to process what was happening. Wait. What_ was _happening? Zoey’s eyes shot open as she saw the unfamiliar surroundings, she let out a yelp and backed into something hard. A wall. She winced, it was then, she finally noticed more of the unfamiliar scenery._

_A blood red sky. Tall buildings that belonged to a city, like her home town... similar roads as well, but what shocked her the most was the citizens, or rather creatures that she would see pass by. Creatures that were far from being human, they were either animal like, truly nightmarish, or just.. have features that differentiate them from humans. Where the hell was she?!_

_Zoey was panting heavily, trying to understand what was going on, she suddenly felt the need to get up, and see herself. Was she the only human in this messed up world? Her eyes adjusted to the brightness and the atmosphere didn’t feel welcoming at all, she accidentally bumps into some of the creatures and they glared at her, she shrunk back and left them alone. Walking past them she tried looking for something transparent, a mirror or glass specifically so she could see herself._

_Zoey spotted a shop that had glass windows, and she ran for it. She wasn’t ready for what she was about to see. Once she was standing in front of the glass, she was silent, staring at her reflection. What was there to say really..? You learn you’re suddenly not human anymore..._

_Zoey carefully brought a hand to her head, to touch one of the fluffy ears she now had, her hair was a darker shade of brown now and it reached until her back, locks of hair at the sides of her face and bangs covering her forehead. Her skin was now a light, almost pale gray color, and... her eyes were different too... no longer the same color except for her scleras that were both light pink. Her right pupil was white, and the left one was.. a dark shade of reddish pink, almost purple.. Zoey felt herself breathe shakily as she saw the black splotch that now surrounded it, why was she suddenly unnerved however..?_

_Another thing that terrified her was..._

_She couldn’t remember a thing._

____

__..._ _

__“...”_ _

__The Roe deer’s ears were flattened after remembering all this, she wiped her eyes to prevent herself from crying, reliving her moments before death was.. painful... and the horrible realization after she died that she was now forced to live down here for eternity because of the sins she had committed.. which were still unknown to her._ _

__She lived in what seemed like Hell already before she died for the remainders of her life, and now she was living another personal Hell, stuck with memory loss and insomnia... Zoey suddenly felt a little unnerved again, no, not because of Alastor, but of the question that lingered in her head..._ _

__Just how long was it going to take before she finally breaks..?_ _

Later... 

The time seemed to fly by and it was already almost time for dinner, Zoey wasn’t really hungry but she didn’t want anyone to worry, she was still exhausted and nervous to be in the same room as Alastor again however.. She shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts, taking a few deep breaths. After a quick shower she left her room, and walked down the hall towards the lobby, she hoped nothing would go wrong tonight...

Reaching the main lobby she could already smell the food being cooked, her stomach grumbled but also twisted nervously, no doubt Alastor was already there. What if he tried something?

“Relax...” Zoey muttered to herself. After a while, she heard Alastor’s announcement that dinner was ready, bracing herself she followed everyone else into the dining room and delicious scents of the food wafted in the air. Zoey made sure not to make any eye contact with Alastor as she took her seat, between Charlie and Angel, who she didn’t realize was already back. He seemed to have been somewhere cause his clothes were a little covered in dust, strangely. She chose not to talk much.

“Oh my, Alastor this all looks delicious! You really are a talented cook!” Charlie exclaimed happily, eager to dig in, Alastor grinned at her.

“Why thank you, my dear! You flatter me.” He snapped his fingers and the apron he wore disappeared, and he was wearing his usual red striped dress coat again, “Help yourselves with anything you like!” Alastor added cheerfully, taking his seat too, not very near Zoey to her relief. She was already unnerved, he seemed his usual self again but she couldn’t help but flinch slightly when his gaze landed on her, he looked like he was piercing through her. The Radio Demon said nothing however.

“And where have _you_ been?” Vaggie said irritably to Angel, he rolled his eyes. “You’ve been gone for most of the day!”

“What’s it to you?” The spider said carelessly, unfazed by the moth demon’s anger toward him, Zoey looked at them both uneasily. “It’s none of your business.”

“You snuck out! I _knew_ it!” She pointed angrily at Angel, she was so close to hitting him it seemed. “You know I still sometimes wonder why the hell you bother to stay if you’re just gonna sneak out!”

Angel slammed his glass down after taking a sip, looking at Vaggie coldly, “I didn’t fucking _sneak out_ , we all know I have things to do outside of just stayin’ in this place.” He snapped, “And don’t give me that shit about how I’m supposed to ‘stay clean’—“ he made air quotations with another roll of his eyes, “—I already told you, I ain’t redeemable.”

Zoey stared in surprise, she wasn’t expecting the talk to go this far, she sort of had an idea that Angel didn’t willingly stay here for redemption but she didn’t expect that. Vaggie was furious and Charlie looked a bit hurt, trying to calm her down, Angel looked as careless as ever, Zoey, Niffty, Husk and Alastor watched in silence. 

“Angel.” Charlie said carefully, yet firmly, “Yes it’s true, we know you have.. things to do, but please don’t cause any more trouble as much as possible.” She said calmly, rubbing Vaggie’s back, the spider huffed. “And don’t forget, you still have to make up for that.. display you showed that ended up on the news.”

“Oh whateva.” Angel grunted, “Just as long as she stops pissin’ me off.” He pointed to Vaggie, she was about to stand up to hit him when Charlie kept her in her seat, giving Angel a look. The spider groaned, “See, you guys just witnessed her gettin’ mad at me when I didn’t even do shit. It seems like I’m always the problem here.” He said bitterly.

“To be fair, Angel.” Alastor spoke, sipping some tea, “You have the tendency to cause trouble wherever you go, and you have to respect the fact you are staying here rent-free with provided food and a room. I believe you should be a little more grateful.”

“Who said I was bein’ ungrateful huh Smiles?” Angel hissed, the deer demon wasn’t fazed and just looked at him calmly, “Ya think you’re much better, ya don’t exactly have a clean reputation either so look who’s talkin’.” He crossed his arms, Alastor’s eyes narrowed, Zoey grew nervous and she shrunk back in her seat.

“Do keep your filthy mouth shut, you wretched arachnid.” Alastor hissed back, sounds of static emitting from him, the air was suddenly as thick and tense as it was earlier. Angel was about to blow up when he felt a hand grab his arm, he was surprised to see Zoey looking at him with concern.

“Angel don’t make things worse.” She whispered urgently, “It won’t do any good for anyone.” Angel retracted his arm from her, she flinched, though he didn’t do anything and just scoffed. He sat back down, then continued eating, and slowly and awkwardly, everyone else followed. The room was quiet save for the clinking of silverware and the sounds of eating, luckily things didn’t escalate.

Alastor was looking at Zoey after she stopped Angel, she didn’t know what he was thinking but she knew they weren’t at all near being on good terms.


End file.
